top 32 movies of 2007!

Click on the image! You know you want to.

32. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
One of my pet peeves involving talking about movies is when people say, "It makes me so mad because that's two hours that I'll never get back!" You can say that about any movie, not just the ones you hate. In fact, you can say that about any activity. Maybe you look at your cel phone and then two hours later you check the time again. Do you actually say out loud, "I'll never get those two hours back!" Fact is, the clock is ticking, and we're gonna die of heart disease 50 years from now whether or not the two hours was spent in a good or bad movie. They're both wastes of time to a certain degree. Just because we sat through a bad movie doesn't mean we would've administered to the wounds of orphans had we not gone to the theater that day. The last two hours will always be two hours you don't get back. When I grade movies for my end year list I use a letter grade scale. Usually, every movie is passable in the sense that I didn't feel punished by watching it, so "D" tends to be my lowest grade. Anyway, I've never come closer to uttering the phrase that peeves me than while watching this movie. Pirates did not receive a D. Perhaps I was in a bad mood, because most of my friends weren't nearly as enraged as I was; but I was actually angry that I was in the theater during most of this boring series of moving images. I could leave it at that, but let me just ask quickly: what was the deal with that supposed "pump-up" speech delivered by Keira Knightly to the other pirates? They weren't even able to join the fight. Why was the speech delivered? Meh.

31. Transformers
I must be getting old because the worst movies on the list this year were two of the biggest blockbusters. I do remember enjoying this a lot when I saw it, but it bugged me and wore down on me more and more as I thought about it later. That last battle scene was pretty cool, I admit, but it did have some flaws. Probably the biggest reason I'm betraying the transforming robot concept that really was my life from 1984-1987 is because the robots themselves had no heart or personality. Did anyone come out of the theater and say, "Wow, which transformer was your favorite? Mine was totally Barricade!" Maybe people did, but I'd be surprised. They were really more like props than characters.

30. Smokin' Aces
Didn't this come out last year? It must've been the first movie I saw all year. I saw it with my pop culture team in California. We picked it because the other two guys had already seen Children of Men. I still haven't seen that one. Anyway, this shoot 'em up tries to follow a certain style that doesn't work and has too many characters with dead ends. Plus, sheesh, is Jeremy Piven the most annoying person ever or what?

29. The Dance
You probably don't know, but this was an LDS picture that came out early in the year. It's about three different couples of different age groups on the night of the "big dance." For being such a huge event, I was really amazed at how lame the event turned out to be. Maria had a good point in being annoyed at the unnatural line deliveries of the oldest couple.

28. Spiderman 3
Strangely, I've never been a very big fan of this franchise. I definitely prefer the old cartoon with Iceman and Firestar. Obviously this one was bloated with not enough room to really draw us into all the characters, which is sad because I've been looking forward to the Venom storyline. Fortunately that part was probably my favorite; not because of Venom, but because of Topher Grace. He's actually got some watchable charisma. Makes me wish he was originally Spiderman instead of Tobey. I never understood Tobey Mcguire's raves for his version of Spiderman.

27. Blades of Glory
Didn't hate it. It had one really funny part, but for the most part it was just a pretty good time I'll never get back.

26. In the Land of Women
I stayed for Adam Brody. I fled from Meg Ryan. Actually, I sort of involved myself in the watching of this, but looking back all I remember is some estrogenal confusion.

25. Ocean's 13
Everyone else on earth felt betrayed by Ocean's 12, but this was the one that offended me. In my mind, Soderbergh tried something new with 12, and then sold out with 13 by just making the masses happy by feeding them the same elements of the first movie. It wasn't really as original or cool as the first two. Canning Julia Roberts may have helped though.

24. Lars and the Real Girl
I sort of feel guilty for not liking this as much as most people I know who saw it. Obviously this movie spoke to a lot of people in a way that must have evaded me. There are two or three things that I really can't overcome. This was my first Ryan Gosling movie. Presently he's the critics' total darling snook-'ems. I have no doubt that his performance in Half Nelson was far more gripping than his performance here. He seemed to be channeling David Arquette. Also, the lack of perceivable human conflict made most of the action redundant. This guy with delusions brings his problem into a series of different town situations and the townspeople all act... exactly the same. It sure is inspiring that these people are so accepting, but the episodic nature doesn't do much to scroll forward the gears of the development. My biggest problem with the movie though is its use of humor. I personally feel that when the unusual delusion of Lars is introduced it's meant to be played for laughs. The filmmakers don't make an obvious mood change to designate when we're no longer supposed to find the delusion humorous and many people in our theater found themselves laughing when they were supposed to find the situation touching. Perhaps they had less "film intelligence" than many others we were watching it with, but I personally think that the filmmakers purposely wanted the humorous/touching line to be vague. As a result, audience members wind up with "hindsight guilt" for their initial impulses toward humor -- even though that's exactly how it was meant to be presented. Some filmgoers, no doubt, would say it's an effective storytelling tool. I sort of think it's deceptive and insulting. Actually, I'm sure most would probably say they noticed no such thing. I guess sometimes I'm known for noticing things that don't exist.

23. Sydney White
It seems like there was a pretty funny part in this. Can't remember. I tend to sort of like old stories that are vaguely re-told in present-day.

22. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
They proved a pretty good point by making the longest Harry Potter book into the shortest movie. Changing up the directors also really helps. It keeps the "V Rule" that says that the fifth of any movie series is the worst one (see Star Wars, Rocky, Friday the 13th) at bay. Of course my favorite part from the book (Snape's flashback of being tormented by Harry's dad) was handled in like 4 seconds here. Unfortunately, this was one of my least favorite Harry books, so how good could the movie have possibly been?

21. 300
I really don't a huge level of digital effects and I really think most moviegoers don't. Of course this movie does a good point in making something interesting out of making an entire movie using digital image processes rather than just the special effects.

20. Enchanted
I just remembered this one. I'll have to just stick it in here.

19. Crazy Love
I just saw this one last night. It's a documentary about a weird girl and a crazy guy and their treatment of each other over the course of four decades. I won't even say anything more than that because the actual story hinges on two or three AMAZING events that I already knew before I saw it. Fallout from these events is shown in the movie discussed on major television talk shows, which kind of makes me wonder what the need of making this movie was when the material has obviously been covered elsewhere. I'm sure, however, that if I didn't know what was coming, this relationship would have had me absorbed to no end.

18. Disturbia
This built a steady tension well. I really appreciate that enough restraint was used in the first half to enable that.

17. Live Free or Die Hard
I think the lack of a good villain didn't quite put this one in the same league as the other ones. Also, I wish they'd stick more to what's worked in the past. The vast expanse isn't nearly as thrilling as the patented Die Hard closed spaces.

16. The Bourne Ultimatum
This was pretty good as a thoughtful action movie, but I'm really surprised it's made so many critical top ten lists. I get sick of saying this, but even though the hand-held shaky-cam is a trademark of the series, leaving it out would have put it in my top ten. Kudos for actually managing a high-speed chase in Manhattan, though.

15. Breach
On the other hand, even more kudos to Breach for somehow managing to put excitement into a traffic jam rather than a high-speed chase. This was an excellent case study about the most notorious traitor spy in the history of the United States and the appeal of Catherine Zeta-Jones (who strangely doesn't appear in the film).

14. Ratatouille
Pixar served up par for them, which is merely near perfection. Maria and I laughed the hardest we laughed all year during the "Lifted" short that played at the front.

13. Sicko
Most people I know are Michael Moore haters and I know better than to simply believe all the facts presented, but at least they were presented in an entertaining way. He'd certainly be a lot more effective in getting his side across if he did a better job of telling the other side. If anything, the movie got me to think about healthcare. Maybe I'll come up with a better solution someday.

12/11. Grindhouse
Since Planet Terror and Death Proof were released separately on dvd, I'll go ahead and treat them like two different movies. Death Proof was very well made, and that end car sequence was pretty amazing, but it takes a really long time to get there (especially after watching another movie entirely before the droning exposition even begins). Most critics I read or listened to felt that the car-chase Death Proof was far superior to the zombie-infection Planet Terror. I relinquish all my critical cred by stating that I think Terror has the edge. It had a lot of funny and a lot fun on the way to the cheesy last shot showing the remnants of society as a post-apocolyptic desert caravan.

10. The Menagerie
Maybe this Star Trek episode isn't technically a movie, but this year was probably the first time it was shown in a movie theater. They really cleaned up the image and added some amazingly subtle effects that made this feel every bit as enticing as any film that came out this year. This particular episode is probably closer to an episode of The Twilight Zone than Star Trek and the word "cerebral" is often thrown around in describing it. Classy intellectualism aside, the real appeal is the high drama not only elicited by the great William Shatner, but also by the old Enterprise captain, Jeffrey Hunter. I think I talked about it more here.

9. The Simpsons
We just watched this in New York again. It would have been nice if they cut some of the dopey characters and instead focused on more of my favorites like Mr. Burns, Lenny & Carl, Gil, etc. It's still pretty stacked with laughs. I've never heard Peter Nash laugh so hard. My new favorite part is when Homer dumps the animal waste into the lake, sees what he's done and jumps into the back seat of the car, telling the pig to "Drive! Drive! Drive!" I wonder what my favorite part will be next time I see it.

8. I Am Legend
I'm a huge fan of Omega Man, so I was very surprised that I Am Legend was closer to it than it was to Transformers. The cgi on the "night seekers" was a mess, but the film was saved in a pretty good execution. I really liked how we're slowly given revelations about what had happened in the past, and although the figures of the enemies was a visual problem, the scene where Will Smith sneaks into their little hive is plenty scary.

7. Juno
As delightful as Juno was I was sorely let down because of the incredible critical and festival response. Perhaps I thought it would be more "life changing." No matter though. Plenty funny with awesome delivery. Trust me, I'll be using the term "food baby" several times in the next year.

6. Hot Rod
I'm not ashamed. I thought it was brilliant. Raising money to save a guy's life to punch him in the face? Brilliant. Homage to the warehouse scene in Footloose? Brilliant. Falling down a hill more than the obvious amount of times? Brilliant. Having the 80s band Asia do the soundtrack? Brilliant.

5. Control
I didn't have the best time watching this movie, but I can't deny its excellence. I thought I'd appreciate it because it dealt with a band I like and it was directed by my favorite music video director. Actually it was far far less than a music video than I would have thought. In fact there wasn't even that sequence where they lay down the tracks and everything comes together and we get to share in the musical experience (I really wish it did have that too). No, what I really remember is seeing Ian Curtis slip into a tortuous whirlpool of anxiety, insecurity and depression. The guy was no hero, but I sure felt rough for the guy and his wife. I wrote about it more here.

4. No Country For Old Men
I don't know, maybe I'm ranking it too well. Like Juno, I was sort of let down by all the critical acclaim I heard before seeing it. It was pretty effective though. Javier Bardem was really really scary. He had a really really scary haircut too. I'd probably feel more justified putting it in this really excellent position if I could just come to terms with the last third. Lots of people are complaining about the ending and I didn't have a problem so much with the very ending. I did, however, feel that the rug was pulled out from under us quite a bit too soon. The decline at the end was less fun when the tension still wasn't on the brink.

3. Waitress
Ugh. I've been typing for hours now and I could sure go for a pie. I never watched Felicity, but I just might because Keri Russel is wonderful in this. I have watched Firefly so Nathan Fillion is already like my favorite man. Even Andy Griffith reminds me of my stepdad. This movie is just sugary sweet -- like a good piece of pie -- and I don't even eat pie usually.

2. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
I was really close to putting this in as number one. It's far more my kind of movie: a documentary about oldschool arcade game championships. If you don't know, the movie is about two very different men. Steve is a very nice, down-on-his luck novice gamer. Billy is the arrogant champion as aloof as Michael Scott and a haircut even more humorous than Javier Bardem's in No Country For Old Men. Billy should be named "villain of the year." When Maria and I went, I was sort of worried that the documentary would reveal the loserness of videogaming, but thankfully and gloriously the serious focus on the competion was played completely straight. Coming out of the theater all she could talk about was how much she hated Billy Mitchell. Despite not being a Christopher Guest-type mockumentary, the movie is packed to the brim with genuine and welcome humor. My only complaint is that the filmmakers could have let Billy's villainy stand on its own. They didn't need to paint him villainous as obvious as they did.

1. Once
Somehow, this year, the sensitive musician movie came out on top over the one about the video games. We just watched this one again and it's totally not perfect. At times it feels a little bit draggy, but it totally had some kind of magic that absolutely no other movie had this year. Watching it the second time, I noticed that I sort of liked it for one of the big reasons I disliked Lars and the Real Girl, which was a sort of lack of antagonists. Obviously, I might have some problems with my opinionating. On the other hand, it is a different story and worked in a different way. In this one, the power of this guy's music brings everyone together. Everything doesn't work out perfectly. There are conflicts to overcome, but by the end, all characters are more fulfilled by what the main characters have created together rather than what's been dealt with. Right now, I don't know very many people who have seen this, so I'd encourage you to see it and hate it if you can. It is very different. Different enough that I'm sure it doesn't fit everyone's taste, but definitely worth seeing.

Some movies I didn't get around to seeing that I'm surprised about were:

Zodiac, The Hoax, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, Hot Fuzz, 1408, Sunshine, Rescue Dawn, Into the Wild, Southland Tales...

Were any any good?

I wanna send out a special thank you to the Broadway and Regency theaters here in Salt Lake. This year I broke some records in the amount of independent films I saw.

fff 8: birthday

This past Friday was Laura's birthday party so her mom made some chicken and some dessert and jazzy stuff like that. I ate it. As a total bonus, later that night we went to Cafe Rio and I filled up my punch card, thus enabling a free meal on a later date. Ah, the grandeur of Free Food Friday! Not only do I get free food, but I get free food credit!

airing of grievances '07

Another Festivus is come and gone and now for the Airing of Grievances.

Ice: I can't believe I forgot you last year! I hate you and I hate everyone who gives me more ice than liquid in my drink. It's winter. I have no need for ice-cold anything. Plus, I can't deposit a gushing stream of liquid down my throat when my lips are forcibly clenched to prevent shards of ice from being swallowed whole. Ice from ice machines also smells funny. It does. Maybe this is why.

Airports: Get some more chairs! Also, because of security scares, I'm not allowed to leave my luggage. That means I have to take my luggage to the bathroom with me. There's no way in Hell I'm going to let my bags touch an airport bathroom floor. The result is a meticulous and painful balancing act that, I can only assume is extremely funny to witness, is still something I would love to not participate in again.

Cold (temperature): I hate you.

Cold (illness): I hate you. I had like four colds in the past couple of months. Obviously you stupid colds haven't heard of physical or diplomatic immunity.

Writer's Strike: I feel for the plight of you writers, but I am still grieved.

Waiters in New York: You provide the same service as in Utah, but you servers wait for us to ask you to bring the check. Don't you want to usher us out? There are people waiting! Sure, you're probably being nice by providing some post-meal personal time for us, but that's not what I was raised with, so you're wrong! It's very disappointing.

Anxiety: You caused my favorite living band to not come to Utah, thus dashing the most anticipated live event of the year! You also paralyze me in encounters with new people and prevent me from putting people I know on this very list!

Diagonals: Utah streets are very well organized. So what's up with American Fork being all diagonally and shiz? And how about Fort Union and Union Boulevard not just being all diagonal when they're not supposed to be, but actually having the same name? Don't even get me started on you two!

The west side: All you sprawl from Jordan Landing (stop being so similar in name to Jordon Commons) up to the airport with your perfectly-lined up streets, I'm talkin' to you. You're boring.

Coupons: Stop expiring! Especially the big ones that I had to purchase big things to get (I'm looking at you 25% off at R.E.I. with a complimentary lift pass to The Canyons that expired a month ago).

Thief who stole my car stereo: Get a job hippie!

Transformers: How horribly grieving it is that the movie I looked forward to for 20 years has, the more I think about it, become the biggest movie disappoinment I've seen this year.

fff 7 - business expense.

This past Friday I tagged along on Maria's business trip. We ate at this place called VYNL, which was really really good. The menus were old LP covers. Solid. She got reimbersed by her company (as well as all our meals on Saturday and Sunday).

nyc christmas video!

Merry Christmas.

take!

Christmas can be hard when you get to a point where you debit more than you come away with.

Anyway, I'm doing something a little bit different for gift giving this year. I'm getting something for my girlfriend, my parents, my girlfriend's parents, the two guys I live with and maybe everyone who gives me a gift and THAT'S IT -- officially.

I did, however, buy a bunch of gifts for ANYONE ELSE who wants them. So if you're reading right now, come over to my house and pick up a gift. Tell my friends about it (maybe not necessarily your friends -- it'd be nice if everyone who picks up a gift is actually someone I'm acquainted with). You won't know what you'll be getting, since the presents are wrapped. They vary from sort of good to nearly awesome, so try to choose wisely. This is an experimental year. I think it'll work. I still have some presents I purchased last year that never got into the right hands. I'll be out of town from Thursday to Sunday, so maybe try to pick them up before then.

fff 6: double my pleasure!

This week I got a double bill of Free Food Friday. First, work gave out croissant sandwiches with chips. I think they were for clients or something. I was wearing headphones at the time I grabbed one, so that probably helped my looking the part of ignorance on the matter. Later in the evening was Maria's work party. Creamy chicken, roast beef, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, rice pilaf, broccoli -- nummy! There was also free OJ at the bar. Oh, and also there was a brittle magician and some Rockband harmony. It was so freakin' adequate.

Btw, relating to the last post, I also want instructional books for Christmas. Perhaps computer programming for stuff I have no knowledge of, like SQL.

give!

It's time to throw in some ideas of what I want for Christmas. I'm happy to report that I got three out of the seven things I asked for last year (even if I did buy them myself). The following have convenient Amazon.com links, so don't be afraid to go all webby!

1. Behringer Miniamp AMP800 Ultra-Compact 4-Channel Stereo Headphone Amplifier
Since we got Rockband in our house we have the problem of not being able to hear the music over the tapping of the real-world drum pads (and most likely whatever other ruckus is going on in the house). With this miniamp, we could plug four sets of headphones into it, blast ourselves silly with music and still leave the rest of the house relatively quiet.
2. 40 Years of the X-Men
This is a dvd of pretty much every X-Men comic ever. You need to get it for Mac. Actually I'm pretty sure it's Mac and PC compatible.
3. Super Mario Galaxy
I've heard that this is like the best Wii game out right now. I've heard Super Mario Party 8 is a blast too.
4. Bioshock
I downloaded the demo of this and it's amazing. Imagine if you will that an Ayn Rand type figure built an underwater utopia in the depths of the ocean. Now imagine that the society failed and is now over-run with mutants for some reason. Now imagine crashing there and enjoying all the objectivism art decor while mutants try to kill you. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Get the Xbox 360 version.

5. The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968
Of course I would love getting any of The Complete Peanuts series. I like this one because Violet, my favorite Peanuts character ever, is on the cover. There's also a new Charles Schultz biography I'd love to read.6. Star Trek The Original Series - The Complete First Season (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD] (1966)
This one is tricky. Star Trek has already been released on standard dvd. Don't get that version. It has to be the dual version of HD on one side of the discs and SD on the other. It's the only version with the updated effects that they've started to ratchet into the old show in the past couple of years. I think it works great -- much much better that the updated effects Lucas did for the old Star Wars movies. They're way subtler. So don't bother getting me the original standard dvds. The link should point you right to them. Here's a little hint: the version I want is way way more expensive than the other one.
And once again, if you don't like anything on the list, check out last year's or feel free to get me something on my Christmas wishlist from 2004 or last year (with the exceptions of Home Movies Seasons 1-4, M*A*S*H Season 4, Music from the O.C. Mix #2 on cd, Interpol: Antics on cd, Dance Dance Revolution for the PS2, Karaoke Revolution for the PS2, snowboard boots, basketball shoes, New Order: A Collection on dvd, bathrobe, customized Converse shoes, Star Wars Battlefront II for PS2, PS2 controller, The Klingon Dictionary, Auto Repair for Dummies and Fargo Rock City)

Consider yourselves lucky. There's so much stuff I want. I walked into Barnes and Noble the other day and seriously wanted like ten items on the table of items designed to catch customers' eyes. Sometimes I wish I were you.

free food friday 5!

Butter mashed potatoes, beef stew, lettuce salad, homeless shelter turkey, stuffing and mixed veggies.

Some caterers were at work during lunch. I don't know who the meal was for or why, but I partook.

Several hours later, I realized the majesty and magic of the day.

one "art" please

Yesterday I considered wearing a hat. I was scheduled to tour the Art Institute of Utah and I wanted to look more studenty and less bald.

I've always thought that it would be fun to go to an art school. I think it was ever since I first saw Some Kind of Wonderful and the high school guidance counselor in that movie suggested that Keith go to an art school. I was like, there are such things as art schools? Neato.

Most of the tour consisted of an in-depth interview. That's been happening a lot lately. I hate those. I was leaning toward the "interactive media design" major. The curriculum has stuff like scripting languages, logic, web authoring, editing and anthropology (strangely).

The tour certainly would have been more interesting if it was during school hours and the classrooms were open. The ones I did see had the slanty desks, though. The library had hardly any books at all. Like 30. My tour guide, Lauren, said that the school was more concerned with the equipment. Hmm. You know what I love about art school? No reading. I actually brought my camera, but also felt like too much of an idiot to take photos.

The restaurant there should be pretty fun. It's like an experimental restaurant where the culinary students can practice, sort of like those hair schools where you can get your haircut cheap. I'll definitely do that.

I'm sure I'll enjoy the restaurant. That'll probably be all the school I'll enjoy, based on the bottom line.

free food friday 4!

It all started three weeks ago Friday when I placed a take-out order at P.F. Chang's and they lost the order and just gave me my two-meal order free for my trouble. Two Fridays ago after a concert our IHOP check was lost and our waitress just comped it out for us. Last Friday our server at Red Robin gave us a free drink. Now, just two days ago during lunch I went to this dismal Chinese place for lunch. They had a special that day -- a free cup of egg drop soup with every order.

Free Food Friday is now officially a holiday and I'm going to be celebrating it like 50 or so times a year. A week ago Maria gave me a coupon for free lettuce wraps at Pei Wei. It's to be used in a Free Food Friday emergency, just in case no free food comes one week. That's awfully thoughtful of her. She's like that. Of course now I'm stressed out about the whole matter. It seems to me like the concept only works when I actually plan on spending money. It's almost like a leap of faith. If I actually plan on just having free food given to me through the use of a coupon or something, I'm afraid it will break the magic.

Of course another really obvious concern is the sense of diminishing returns. In the course of less than a month I went from two free entrees at P.F. Chang's to six ounces of sitting tepid crock-pot soup.

happy b-day kai, two-freaking-hundred (unrelated)

Happy happy happy birthday Kaila! I don't see enough of you anymore now that you've completely withdrawn from society. I have a feeling that soon you'll be a like some kind of wise zen master and the only time I'll ever see you is when I'll need sage advice and I have to climb to the top of whatever mountain you're living on to find you. Once I get to the top, I have to spend a few days carrying water with one of those shoulder-pole things with two buckets dangling from each end. Then and only then will you help me "discover myself." Anyway, I hope it doesn't come down to that too soon.

Wish I got you something. I shoulda. We'll see you in a few minutes.

So, yeah.

It's November 30th and I freaking did it! 30 days in a row without missing a day of blogging! Yeah, I can totally set my mind on stuff. Usually it helps if what I set my mind to doing makes absolutely no difference to anything. That's just how I roll. Always sweatin' the small stuff. Now I'm worried that I'll never blog again, that I totally overkilled myself. Maybe. Maybe hard.

post 199

I should really get new socks.

I think when I listen to my iPod in my black ninja hoodie, an electrical current travels into my ear buds and causes static brain damage.

I spell it 'hoodie' instead of 'hoody' because Wikipedia redirects to 'hoodie,' and a Google search seems to bring up more entries on the latter.

I have a lingering question about Ender's Game. Ender's "relationship" with Alai -- what's up with that?

Today was a good day, because I got to the Ds on my iPod continual play. That meant three hours of Depeche Mode in albumnal order. Songs of Faith and Devotion, Ultra and Violator right in a row.

Songs of Faith and Devotion is totally the best Depeche Mode album.

Tonight I slightly helped Monica move. I know exactly where she's moving to. If anybody who commented on her blog who is dying to know where she's moving to, I'll let you know before she says. Five bucks.

Maria wants to read The Giver. Any good?

I've found a new list of books to read -- the list of shared Hugo and Nebula award winners. 1984-1986 were some very good years of science fiction. Neuromancer, Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead all won both awards three years in a row. They're also three of my very favorite books of all time.

I'm disappointed that, as of this moment, Elf is winning in the polls for the December Movie of the Month. This can't happen. I don't want White Christmas to win either. Bing Crosby sings way too drunk.

Another Ender's game question. Ender's "relationship" with Valentine -- what's up with that?

The best thing about Google Analytics is how this blog is discovered by googling. Six people discovered the blog by googling 'listen to beverly clock chime.' one guy found us by googling 'ditka "lord's prayer." My movie commentary site has far better hitting search words, but less people find it. Oh, well. Niche.

I think I'll always be niche. It's a good excuse to have mediocre content.

biden in '08!

Lately, considering how incredibly ill-informed I am, I've been thinking about what presidential candidate to support. Perhaps because it's November and besides Thanksgiving, not much goes on in November besides the cold and elections.

Sidenote. Lately I've heard people complain that with the intense growing popularity of Halloween and the continual popularity of Christmas, that Thanksgiving gets commercially lost in it all. The seasonal aisle in Smith's never even turns Thanksgiving-themed at all anymore. I like that. It's not because I hate Thanksgiving, but because Thanksgiving is cool enough to become the biggest non-commercial holiday. It's sort of like how once upon a time Pearl Jam was the biggest band in the world, but then they somehow figured out a way to go back into the underground alternative music community with a minor, but loyal touring fan base (mostly sucking after their first big album may have helped most of all). Anyway, long live Thanksgiving. May it always be a cozy, intimate family affair.

Back on track. Lately I've said that it would be really wonderful if, instead of being vigilant in observing political platforms through speeches and debates, I could just plug in my own views on all the issues and some computer could tell me who to vote for.

My sister sent me exactly what I wanted yesterday. USA Today of all news sources (actually, as I'm typing this, perhaps it makes perfect sense), put this little questionnaire and presidential database together. It asks only 11 questions and then it tells you who to vote for.

To my horror, I discovered that I'm a supporter of Joe Biden.
I also discovered that despite the fact that I'm Mormon, I really don't relate much to Mitt Romney at all. Anyway, take the test. You can even weigh certain questions and issues harder than others. For example, the first question has something to do with whether or not the United States should have gone to war in Iraq. Perhaps you feel that such a question has nothing to do with what to do presidentially from this point all. Go ahead and zap the question out.Apparently, if I'm reading it right, most people in the country are relating to Mitt Romney after all. Maybe they'd all make good Mormons.

relapse!

So late last night I did a little nose inventory and discovered the following:

Yeah, turns out my nose duality is alive and well. Perhaps I'm slowly turning into Lokai.

Just in case you're using this blog as your main source of current news, it snowed today. I would have gotten a really artistic shot of the snow, but I only opened the front door long enough to get the following shot:
Isn't the first snow of the season so unique? And so deadly. It's obviously wetter. No car crashes that I'm aware of, fortunately (maybe since it was pretty light snowfall and in the middle of the day). However, here is a pretty awesome shot that Maria took as we totally lost control going down Main Street:
I was hoping that there'd be mass snowman-making today, but alas. Today really is the only day to do it, but I guess everybody's sick of snowmen. We need to think of something else to do on first snowfall day.

I've begun the process of listening to all 1500 "songs" on my iPod in alphabetical order. I'm on my second day now. It's at "Co-," so I just finished up with Cold War Kids. Groovy. I'm now in the middle of the Comics Coast to Coast podcast. Yeah, that's right. I'm listening to all my podcasts too. It could be maddening considering I have more than 24 hours worth of content of some podcasts. I'll let you know how tomorrow goes. It'll probably be a majority of The Cure. Maybe it'll do a little something for my current illness.

snot a problem

Today when I came home I got totally pumped to talk about how sick I've been for the past week. To prove it I was going to take a picture of my snot. Strangely, for the past three or four days the snot from my right nostril has been normal, while the snot from my left nostril has been sort of orange and had a much thicker consistency. It looked a lot like apricot jam.

Sadly, when I did my evening snot rocket ceremony, everything was normal. Well, it still had a higher volume than normal and was liqued-ey-er than during the warm weather, but that's to be expected. Sorry things are getting back to boring wellness again.

ender's end

Quick! I need to have Ender's Game read by Thursday for book club and I'm only 40 pages in. What should I be talking about? Who should they cast for the movie (my only sure vote is Chuck Norris should be Mazer Rackham)? What was the main theme? What was your favorite part? What's happening on the front cover?

The only thing I really remember from reading it before was that Ender totally messed up some kid in the showers. I also remember that most of the kids had weird names and that the weapons they use are called "little doctors." I remember also about how they trapped Achilles in some vent, but I think that may be some other book. The last chapter is called "Speaker for the Dead" I think.

Here's a link to my biggest celebrity online meeting.

red vs. blue. plus some green by way of orange.

Click here for the results of the game.

I get pretty sick of the rivalry year after year. It's not like I'm a huge sports fan or anything. I just get sucked into the intensity. I'd like to think that I'm above it all, but there are too many outside variables. If I were a better person I wouldn't let it get to me so much. Maybe a lot of it is my need to defend all the uninteresting things about me: white, Utah County, BYU, male, middle-class family, etc. On paper, I'm like so Whitey.

This year I figured the only way the rivalry would die down would be if there was just a boring game. That's probably what we all need. It's sort of like how Paris Hilton won't go away even if everyone hates her. The only way to get rid of her is if everyone was just apathetic about her. We almost had it too, this year. It was just field goals all the way to the fourth quarter. Suddenly I and my other blue were looking down the barrel of defeat and humiliation -- again.

It all worked out though. We're saved. I think we take it quite well. If the game went the other way, you can bet there will be a lot more talking about it in the future. But it went our way. That means I'll be able to just live my life in wonderful silence about the whole rivalry if I choose to. I'll choose to too.

Completely unrelated -- I just realized a couple of hours ago that yesterday when we were at Red Robin, our server/bartender gave us a free orange drink that he had made extra or something. Free Food Friday strikes again! Kind of in a mellow way, but yeah.

black friday video report

Oh, and here's the Rockband video you should watch (to earn me $).

idling toward true gratitude '07

I'm thankful that Maria has had the patience to go to two separate families today. I'm thankful that two separate families gave me turkey today. I'm thankful that even though I cough every other breath, I'm still relatively healthy. I'm thankful that my Corolla has been able to take the 150 mile round trip today with ease. I'm thankful that the newspaper was kind enough today to stuff itself not with advertisements for gifts that I would consider getting people, but with stuff that I would want for myself. I'm thankful that Rhett bought Rockband and not me. I'm thankful that I don't have a real job, but I still have a bunch of money. I'm also so very thankful for the internet at my parents' house; which is a really horrible and slow version of the internet that I would never find acceptable enough at my house so I can't really put up pictures or anything, but at least I got my post done today.

rockband -- revealed!

I'm feelin' sick, so I'll just put this video up. Those video game people are so mean. We just barely got Guitar Hero III, and now we have to do this Rockband thing.

the apathy gene

November is almost over! That means my obligatory post-a-day project will soon be at an end. Ahh! What a relief! I've been wanting to get into the regular habit of posting every day for a long time now, but I'm not sure I'm capable. I'm a lot more of the type of guy who gets into a habit of not doing things. Presently, I'm in the middle of a pretty good run of abstaining from carbonated beverages. I've been pretty successful at it before. I did it with no problem in high school while certain others had severe withdrawal symptoms. The temperature dropped pretty hard today and I thought about how hard it would be to be addicted to cigarettes because I'd have to go outside in the cold to smoke. I figure I'd just get fed up with the cold, go inside and never smoke again. Maybe I don't understand how addictive nicotine is, but I'm sure it's not as bad as my hatred of the cold. If I got really desperate, I'd probably just invent a smoking helmet that I could wear inside. It'd pretty much just be a fishbowl with tight lycra making a seal where the neck would be.

Obviously I had no idea what I'd be talking about when I started this post.

toil and trouble

I started a new job for the moment today. It's sort of insurancy.

At this point all I can say is that the building is very cold. By the end of the day I was sitting on my hands and I needed to use them.

legitimate weekend post

So this weekend I like bought a whole bunch of stuff including another Blender magazine, but this one had Jay-Z on the cover and so it was more acceptable, and I also bought Ender's game which I have to read for book club next week even though I've totally already read it and I'm waiting for the movie to come out, but it probably won't be that good because how could you even make a movie of that book anyway? I also bought a charger for my Wii remotes because i figured with all the controllers we have lying around the house we couldn't just go around buying batteries every single week and all that and then after all that we found out we could get cheap Evanescence tickets so like eight of us went and then went to IHOP afterward, but I already totally talked about that. Saturday morning I woke up late and was totally late for the Turkey Bowl flag football thingie I did. I got teamed up with a lame team that called huddles after every play and couldn't snap the ball and couldn't roll out or anything, so I woudn't have minded that they were bad, but they were actually really ungood at football too and I also jammed my finger flagging some guy. After that Dre and I went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at the University. I'm undecided on how I feel about the guy, cuz I mean certainly other artists are more deserving of the prominence that the guy has of being able to transcend the art world so well, but then again maybe actual artists don't pay him no mind and all that, so i dunno. Nice hair. Last night we watched Omega Man with Chuck Heston, yeah I love that guy, and we'll probably be talking about that later. So then today we totally had a turkey dinner at church and then we had ward prayer at our house and gorged ourselves on the leftover fake-Thanksgiving pie. That's it. Not much.

free food friday!

Here's a photo of my free meal from P.F. Chang's last week.
Yeah, that's right. I mentioned that Maria was out of town so I figured it was a good time to get Chinese food. She's good to go with me to Chinese places, but I like the food way more than she does. Of course, she actually loves P.F. Chang's, so maybe I don't even know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I got some lo mein surprise and kung pao chicken. I don't know why I got the kung pao since a week earlier I went to Pei Wei and got it there and didn't like it so much. For some reason I totally forgot that Pei Wei and P.F. Chang's is like the same place. Anyway, this being a solo thing, I went ahead and got it as a take-out order, calling in advance. I parked in the ten minute service zone. When I went in and they said they didn't have the order or a record for the order I panicked (I tend to get parking tickets). All was alleviated, however, when they apologized and said the meal was on the house. This was Friday.

Perhaps a real good way to get free food is to go into P.F. Chang's and loudly complain about some lost order.

Anyway, that story isn't worth mentioning much.

BUT -- yesterday Maria, Joe and I met up with Rhett and some of his people at IHOP in Orem directly after our impromptu Evanescence concert (yeah, I had no idea I was going either), AND for some reason our check was lost. Joe explained it as probably being "comped out" by the boss of our server (Valerie), because we came later. I don't really know what that means. It's server talk and I've never ever had a job where I've handled money. We got a free split decision breakfast with two extra eggs all served over medium (but they were kind of on the over easy side) plus strawberry banana French toast.

The point is, I get free food every Friday.

watch it! love it! send it!

First, enjoy this is as hard as you humanely can:



This was from one of our trips to Vegas last summer. It's riding the Speed ride at the Sahara casino.

The most famous thing I'm known for is my online point-of-view roller coaster rides. For my latest venture, I'm trying something different than YouTube. Rhett informed me of this site called Revver. Revver actually places an ad on the end of the video and tracks how many people view the video and click on the ads. They then share the ad revenue with the people who post the videos 50/50. I figure if I get 50,000 views to the above video, I could make a few bucks (20, maybe). It would help even more if you clicked on some of the ads at the end of the video. I think they're for helpful things such as planning trips to Las Vegas and stuff like that.

Help me out! Copy and paste the link below onto an entry on your own blog.

http://revver.com/watch/486238/flv/riding-the-sahara-speed-ride-in-las-vegas/

It would be even better if you went to the link and copied the html code you can use to actually embed the revver player with the awesome video directly into one of your entries.

If you don't have a blog, just freakin' email the link to people.

the internet has come full circle

While doing today's crossword puzzle from my copy of Will Shortz Presents Crosswords for 365 Days, I came to the part of the puzzle where I finally needed the internet to help me solve it. I googled "Dashing horse" which was the clue to 11-down. Google returned with the perfect source: a page grab from the exact same book I was working from.Too dang specific.

The answer is "Arab" by the way.

what kind of presidential name is mitt anyway?

Rhett came in yesterday and said something apparently obvious, but still intriguing. "You realize that there's actually a pretty good chance that the two people running for president might be Hilary Clinton and Mitt Romney?"

Immediately it made me recall what an old New Testament professor of mine said at BYU. He said that some NT scholars think that Judas thought that he was still on Christ's side at the time of the betrayal. Judas's thinking may have been along the lines of helping to usher in the events to bring about the atonement, rather than the obvious traitorous attitude we see on the surface.

What does that have to do with anything? There's a very thin thread of similarity. Assuming you believe the way I do, a Mormon president of the United States would bring Mormonism into the public eye in a way far more than anything else in the past century or the century to come. It'll be huge. I mean, we freak out when Hinckley gets ten minutes out 60 Minutes. The result would usher in End of Days events to an incredible degree. It would be weird. I've never lived in a world where Mormonism is that mainstream. I prefer my haven out of the world. Heck, I rarely even leave my house.

Maria countered that there is absolutely no way that Romney would ever get elected, because LDS women not having the priesthood would be an issue that Romney's opposition would absolutely crucify him over. With this in mind, guess what big announcement may happen during the April 2008 General Conference?

while the writers are away the geeks will play

I've got two television solutions to the impending writers' strike: 1) television through Netflix and 2) television through cinema.

What's the most important impact of the rise of dvd? Most people might say improved picture quality. People would expect me to say the rise of audio commentaries, but that's not what I'd say. The most important impact is the archiving of television. We did it to a limited degree with vhs, but not too much. Around the turn of the millennium, they didn't just turn extremely popular tv series over to dvd. It seems like they put every series ever. Budgetary and space issues made such things far more possible. It was a foreshadowing to the Youtube era when it wouldn't just be television series archived, but every event that's ever happened in the universe ever.

Anyway, the point is that because of this, I Netflax the first disc of Babylon 5. It's been on my list for a while. Many geeks have recommended it. Now that I've pretty much come out with the fact that I'd rather be a total geek than a contributing member of real-world society, I suppose it's about time I gave it a shot. The only things I really knew for sure about the story is that it takes place on a space station and tragically came out the same year as Star Trek: Deep Space 9 -- which pretty much shares the same premise. Another reason I became intrigued with the show more recently is because I've had a lingering memory ever since Babylon 5 came out was that the creator didn't just have a series in mind, but an entire five-year story arc already in place in his head. I seem to remember a quote from the time where he said something to the effect of "I can tell you exactly what will happen in the last ten minutes of the last episode five years from now." This concept really was ahead of its time. Lost and Heroes came ten years later.

Would you believe that the acting is cheesier than Star Trek? I have no qualms with that, but it's funny enough to worth mentioning. Also, I was disappointed to find the four episodes I watched were far more episodic than story arcy. And strangely every episode seemed to run for like an hour and a half.

I really like it so far though. The captain, Captain Sinclair I think, is chiseled from another era. He's like The Fall Guy or Jack Lord or something. His baritone is hypnotizing. It's like the creators got together and said "Who could we get who's more like Captain Kirk than William Shatner is?" The security chief is pretty cool too. When it comes to characters I like seeing cliches broken. Having the security chief as a happy-go-lucky doofus flirt rather than a hard-nosed grizzled scruff guy accomplishes this. I also like the effects, even though they're CG. I've gone on record in saying that models are always better than CG, but honestly, even Babylon 5 CG is better than Star Trek models.

Anyway, maybe I'll see the rest of the episodes someday. That may entail getting my own Netflix account instead of constantly using my girlfriend's roommate's account.

A couple of hours ago Maria and I saw Star Trek: The Menagerie Parts 1 & 2 in the theater. 'Twas quite a unique experiment. Some hotshots at Star Trek Central decided it might be a good idea to show a couple of back-to-back original Star Trek episodes in an actual movie theater with amped-up effects and a cleaner picture.

Thankfully this was brought to my attention as the once fading spectre of Star Trek has continued to sink its talons into my soul as of late. We saw a poster for it last week when we and Joe saw Sydney White at the dollar theater. I was stressed out on the way to the way to the stupid Jordan Landing Theaters. I took the wrong I-215 direction and we wound up in some serious west side sprawl traffic. We thought that there would be a 90% chance that the theater would be practically empty, but since this was the only showing I didn't want to leave room for error. Turns out, there are lots of "Jon's People" in Salt Lake, I just don't know any of them. 20 minutes before the show started, the theater was full. Not just full, but full of Star Trek fans. I saw one guy dressed as an Andorian.

Anyway, I'm getting tired of typing. The Menagerie is sort of a complicated story. It uses footage from the original Star Trek pilot that didn't have Kirk in it, but a more philosophical Captain Pike. According to the story, Captain Pike visited a planet that held him prisoner, but granted him an illusionary reality of whatever he desired. He escaped, and that's how the original pilot of Star Trek ended. The Menagerie finds Captain Pike the victim of a horrendous accident that pretty much leaves him in the same state as that soldier guy in Metallica's video for the song "One." Spock, as a former friend and officer of Pike; finds away to get his former commander back to the planet that would supply him a better life.

This basic story concept became a recurring theme in much of Star Trek. One reason the movie Generations was so gosh darn boring is because the "illusion better than reality" concept was done to death. The Menagerie was far earlier though, and even watching it after sifting through all the similar stuff from years of Star Trek inundation, the concept is far originaler here. A very intriguing coda to the whole story is that after going through so much to get away from it, Pike ultimately settles on life in The Matrix.

The movie also included a commercial for the hd-dvds of the first two seasons of remastered Star Trek. Cool. Get it for me for Christmas... and an hd-dvd player... and an hd-tv.

coping through the writers' strike

Sorry about that last post. It was pretty lame.

Anyway, Stephanie sent me an interesting email with a very interesting link. This is a very handy guide showing how much new material will appear on tv before the written well runs dry.

Notice that, as of today's date, there is only ONE episode of The Office left. That is the most severe casualty, but also the most important. The Office isn't my favorite show on the air, but it's definitely the most popular from a group perspective. It's the one that comes up most in conversation with peers and family. A lot of people would argue that watching so much tv blots out our social skills. Well, when The Office goes off the air, what are we gonna talk about? No, tv is actually essential to our social progress.

Possibly my favorite show is 30 Rock. It's got a writer's strike median lifespan left of five episodes. Once that one goes, we'll be shifting into severe panic mode.

Perhaps it's time to watch a few shows with long future lifespans. Men in Trees has 13 episodes left to air. I really have no idea what this show is, but it has 13 episodes of new material. I may need to either begin watching this show or else begin tivoing commercial breaks hoping to get a glimpse of new and important commercials. Another show that has 13 episodes is apparently its entire season is 13 episodes long and none have aired yet. I've seen a little of this show. It's well-made. Gritty. Fascinating and flawed characters. It's really not so much a tv show as it is a depositing into the epicenter of corrupt cop hell. In other words, the jokes aren't funny enough. One Tree Hill has 12 episodes left. Yeah, I guess it is still on the air. A few years ago when I was a rabid The O.C. fan, my friend Kristi told me that The O.C. paled in comparison to One Tree Hill. Although she'd never actually seen an episode of The O.C. I actually accepted her offer to watch an episode of OTH with her so she could show me what I was missing. When she showed up a half-hour late to the episode because she was at the store she simply told me to start without her. Message clear: One Tree Hill is worth telling your friends about, but it's not worth actually watching.

The list doesn't contain some necessities. I'm really curious about the length of time that The Simpsons has left. I imagine that it's got a pretty long run since the writing and voice work would need to be finished long before the animation. Maybe Simpsons will finish the season. That's just a guess though. It's sort of an irrelevant guess, since even though The Simpsons is the greatest television show of all time, I rarely watch new episodes when they come out.

If there's one good thing about the strike it's to satisfy my sadistic desire to get Pushing Daisies off the air. I only saw most of the first episode, so maybe I haven't given it much of a chance; but it's that first episode that seems to have charmed everyone else. This show thinks it's way more clever than it is, the acting is obvious quirky obnoxiousness and the gimmick is just to upfront for us to enjoy any type of subtle enjoyment. Pushing Daisies only has four episodes left and, although everyone is talking about it now, this writer's strike could mean death to the fledgling show. Sad, really. But it makes me happy.

post to advocate my solidarity with the writers' strike as well as fulfil my obligations to write a post a day during november

saw control

I've been looking forward to seeing Control ever since I first heard that Anton Corbijn would be directing it. When was that? It must have been like two years ago. Anton has never made a movie up until now, but I am a fan. He's sort of a famous rock photographer who's handled U2, the Killers, Depeche Mode and stuff like that. I mostly know him from his Depeche Mode work. He's done nearly all their videos. In fact, the credits list a "special thanks" to Martin Gore, Depeche Mode's songwriter.

I heard that he didn't want his first feature film to be a rock music biopic, but he was drawn into Control because even though he wanted to get away from being labled a "rock photographer," the subject matter was intensely close to him. Corbijn was one of the only photographers to shoot the band Joy Division. It was just about his first gig when he arrived in England from Holland or wherever he's from.
Joy Division's music isn't just considered depressing. They're the reigning princes of misery in late 70s British music. I was turned onto Joy Division as a teenager. It wasn't because I was a severely bleak kid or anything, the music was just sort of therapeutic.

The movie Control is centered around the tortured life of Ian Curtis, Joy Division's singer. Watching the movie is like playing tennis with a brick wall. It's relentless.

Most of the film's effectiveness can probably go to Sam Riley, the actor who portrays Curtis. If we were to take Curtis's life and actually measure how tortured he should have been, we'd probably come up with a seemingly low score. He had his problems such as trying to overcome his severe epilepsy as well as being torn between two women, but he was also becoming prestigious and always had available support from family and friends. All he really had to worry about was keeping his condition in check and staying faithful to those who loved him. The decisions he makes that damage him and the ones he loves so savagely are not understandable at all. Even if his actions can't logically be explained, Riley perfectly explains that Curtis was constantly tortured by the life around him. He just had this way of portraying a believable victimization constantly. The movie really makes no apologies for the guy, but it leaves no doubt that Curtis struggled with everything he did.

We get the film in black and white. Corbijn said that he likes seeing things in black and white because it makes the world so much simpler. I felt that the black and white brought Ian's world to us more concretely. I've often thought that the world is more real, more solid in times of depression. The black and white carried a similar weight.

There are other actors in the movie, one of them the sweetheart Samantha Morton. They're great. Fortunately, the band and management provide a small dose of comic relief every once in a while. It was also a wonderful pleasure for me to see the personality and dynamics of the band that would become New Order.

The movie was really well-done. Extremely well executed. I just don't know if I can say I like it. I'd totally totally totally tell you to see it if you're in the mood for a downer.

On the way out I wondered if I'd ever be able to really enjoy Joy Division's music again. I might just constantly associate it with Ian's lack of control.

trek gods and debauchery

So while we're speaking on Star Trek, one of my very favorite episodes was on yesterday.

Ever see the one called "Return of the Archons?" It's pretty good. It's one of my favorites, if I didn't mention that already. Somehow I think I've given the synopsis on my blog or my site before, but hey, here it is again.

The Enterprise is investigating the disappearance of the U.S.S. Archon that disappeared 100 years earlier. I don't know why it took them so long to get around to finding this other ship or how the search would even benefit something that was lost for so long, but give them credit anyway. The ship was last seen around the vicinity of a planet inexplicably inhabited by humans (or maybe they're aliens that the production people at Paramount didn't have the budget to apply makeup to) and the crew checks the place out. The people on this planet do nothing but walk around like zombies, being vaguely pleasant to each other except for during a specific time during the week. This time is known as "The Festival" or "Red Hour." At Red Hour, the clock chimes and the townspeople cease somnambulism and cut directly to unabashed debauchery -- unbridled sexuality, looting, throwing stuff, etc. Eventually Kirk and the crew find that they're in a place similar to that place with the glowing brain in A Wrinkle in Time. The people are controlled, but secretly hope for more "Archons" like the ones from 100 years ago who shook up their backward society, but ultimately failed to overthrow the control.

There are some wonderful gems. "They're the sweetest, most wonderful people in the universe -- it's paradise." Such things are countered by Kirk and co. at the climax when he argues against this idea, positing that "good must transcend evil" and ultimately that such mindlessness is vacant contentment and not real contentment in the least. The cold logic and order of this planet was God to the people. Apparently a being with merely the means to keep tabs on millions of people and provide safety is hardly God at all. The cold logic didn't have the soul or the spirit of true love and leadership.

I didn't mean to get all this serious.

Anyway, a couple of things were unnecessary, but very welcome. First of all, there was no need to have the original Archons in the story at all. The slight story widening was sort of fun to consider what happened during the events of 100 years ago, though.

The other thing that's stayed with me ever since I first saw the episode is the concept of Red Hour. One guy commented on the imdb that he liked the episode, but it bugged him that the idea of Red Hour was never explained. He assumed that since there was so little action, the producers just threw in people going crazy to make the episode more exciting. No. That's not the case. Perhaps a more elaborate explanation was lost in syndication episode cuts, but the reason for Red Hour is because humanity can't be constrained by constant control. Whatever power was holding the people back needed to let loose to ensure a sort of pressure valve. People who independently better themselves probably wouldn't need Red Hour. This concept was unnecessary for the purposes of what actually happens in the story, but I feel it deepens some of the themes involved.

It turns out that Ben Stiller named his production company "Red Hour" in honor of this episode.

People who know me really really well, know why I really love the concept of Red Hour. I always relate it back to my days at BYU. Some would say that BYU is far more controlled and far more soulless than 99% of all other college campuses in the country. But, BYU had a Red Hour in the form of dance classes. The decentest, most conservative people there always took a dance class and it was the one time during the week when co-human full-body rubbing was guaranteed. The Latin and ballroom types were the most depraved. I never took a dance class, but I made observations. I couldn't imagine participating objectively without my own carnal self getting involved. I suppose my pressure valve was breaking all the other rules.

J.R. if you're still doing the Star Trek Netflix thing, let me know when you get to this episode. Also, I want to do a commentary on Star Trek II sometime in the future.

stream of whatever

I tripped on the treadmill again the other day.

Tell me. When am I actually supposed to start feeling good after going to the gym? It's so absolutely punishment.

I need to buy new clothes. My high-flyin' stuff I got from Mexpress three years ago is begining to fray.

Why would anyone save used ink cartridges from work for six months? It's because I'm ob-com about recycling. For whatever reason, Best Buy has a place where people can recycle print cartridges. Seems like something pretty weird to recycle, but they do it somehow.

Maria is going out of town this weekend. That means lots more burping and farting. It also means I'll be able to plow through the entire dvd of Babylon 5 that just came in through Netflix. I'll probably hit that new movie about Ian Curtis called Control. I'll definitely eat lots of Chinese food. What else should I do?

She's heading to Frisco. I'm not the type of person who exalts specific cities, but San Francisco is pretty choice. I've only been there once, and it was like 20 years ago, but I remember being quite impressed. I tried to talk her into playing that game Manhunter: San Francisco to get used to the area, but she didn't seem too interested.

Have fun, honey! I'll have fun without you, but probably not really that much fun.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I voted the other day. Turns out I voted the same way most other people voted. I didn't vote for that Dave "I like this guy" Buhler for mayor. The reason is probably pretty lame by most standards and it's definitely impertinent to any principle or issue. I just hated his sign that said "vote for the doer, not the dreamer." I'd prefer to have a guy in charge who considered themselves a doer and a dreamer. Because he let go of the "dreamer" part, it sounds like he has no ideals. Yeah, give me a dreamer. I'd rather have someone who hopes to make changes for the better instead of simply being a hard-worker. Of course that person's dream could easily be one where he or she is in underwear in class, but then they inexplicably fall off a cliff. Maybe that would be bad.

Yesterday, I picked up the latest issue of Blender. I'm not really much of a prude or anything, but the front cover this month was pretty extreme. I actually ripped the cover off, because such smut is strangely beneath me; but mostly because I certainly couldn't be seen reading it without people thinking that I regularly read dirty magazines. If anybody is curious, the cover is a very provocative shot of Nicole Scherzinger and it's at the bottom of my recycling bin.