2014

Hello, there. It's 2014.

Countdown to Throwdown: 13 days.

If you had asked me at the beginning of the summer, I would have told you, with 100% certainty, I'd have everything planned out for this upcoming year. Everything. Every decision made, every strategy complete, everything. It's July 23. I've accomplished nothing professionally and I am going to suffer for it. I went to an awesome conference and learned a lot of great things and I was really pumped up about knocking some stuff out. Nothing. I got through college with these sorts of tactics, and I'm sure I'll make it through this year but I'm not doing myself any favors.

Life Goals: Update

Sewing a three-piece suit is no longer one of my goals. I don't remember ever feeling that way but I obviously did (see earlier post).

Resurfacing.

We're alive. We're married. Things are ok. More to come. New pictures to see at flickr.

Read it and weep.

"The really dangerous American fascist... is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective, toward which all their deceit is directed, is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."

-- U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, quoted in the New York Times, April 9, 1944

New and improved.

Did some work on the blog, thinks should look better now. Thanks to Terra for the heads up.

Past or Future? 7 year old philosophy.

Britton recently asked me which I liked better, the past or the future. That's quite a question for a first-grader to ask. I was, needless to say, taken aback. I doubt he understood the depth of the question at the time. He said he liked the future a lot more than the past, and I am glad for him. So what about you? Past or future?

Photos.

I've added more pictures of recent projects at my flickr page. Enjoy.

My favorite salad.

When I was living in Switzerland, I ate mounds of this salad every day. As a result of this diet, and walking tens of miles a day (no joke), I lost 30 pounds in three months. So, I'm going back to it. Here it is:

one whole cucumber, preferably the ridgy "English" cucumber, cut into chunks.
roma or cherry tomatoes, cubed.
2/3 cup of walnuts.
3oz. canned tuna, drained.
crumbled feta cheese.
balsamic or red wine vinegar or soy sauce.

Sometimes I add red pepper flakes and cilantro too. Mmm. Tasty. Maybe I'll include some more recipes sometime. But you're not getting my pesto lasagna recipe. No, you're not. If you're lucky enough to be Jamie or Terra, you know how good it is, and what a valuable secret it is.

Local Celebrities.

http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/

what a beautiful face i have found in this place.

Global Warming.

It's February 15th, right? On my way home from Jamie's house, at almost 1am, it was 61 degrees. There were two flies in her house tonight, and on the wall in front of me as I type this there is a small mosquito. It's February 15th, right?

Life Goals: Post #1

-sew my own three-piece suit from start to finish.
-hike the OHT.
-write a novel.
-transcribe the Holy Bible.
-build furniture.

Oscar the Grouch

When I was a kid, we had a fishtank. The type of fish we had most often were oscars, those freshwater fish in the same family as piranhas. Naturally, I named ours Oscar the Grouch.

This is actually about the Academy Awards, though.

Looking at the nominees, I was surprised to see how few of the nominated movies I actually saw this year. Fewer this year than in most years. So I was trying to think of what movies I actually saw this year. So I found this list of all the Oscar-eligible movies for this year. Here is a list of the movies I saw, followed by my awards based on the movies I actually went to see.

ARE WE THERE YET?
THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE
BATMAN BEGINS
BRIDE & PREJUDICE
BROKEN FLOWERS
THE BROTHERS GRIMM
CASANOVA
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
CHICKEN LITTLE
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
CINDERELLA MAN
CONSTANTINE
CRASH
DEAR FRANKIE
ELEKTRA
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
FANTASTIC FOUR
FEVER PITCH
THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN
FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY
FUN WITH DICK AND JANE
GUESS WHO
HAPPY ENDINGS
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
HIDE AND SEEK
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
HITCH
HOSTAGE
THE INTERPRETER
THE ISLAND
THE JACKET
JARHEAD
KING KONG
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
THE LONGEST YARD
MAD HOT BALLROOM
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS
ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
MELINDA AND MELINDA
MILLIONS
MR. AND MRS. SMITH
MUNICH
REBOUND
RED EYE
SAVING FACE
THE SKELETON KEY
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE
2046
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
WALK THE LINE
WAR OF THE WORLDS
WEDDING CRASHERS
WHITE NOISE

Whew. That was more that I thought. But still not a very "classy" list, right? Here are my nominations, and some awards I made up.

Hollywood's Most Annoying Habit With Regards To Titles:
Possessives. I know Tim Burton made "The Corpse Bride" and that Frank Miller was co-director and creator of "Sin City". But it's still just "Sin City" and its still just "The Corpse Bride". Ok?

Biggest Disappointment:
Broken Flowers. :::yawn::: What a boring movie. How is that that Jim Jarmusch keeps convincing such talent to be in his movies, and then so terrifically wastes everyone's time? Plus in the commentary he talks about how little effort he puts into his movies, "lets them create themselves." Uh huh. It shows.

Jamie's Suggestions That I Was Unsure of But Turned Out Really Great:
Dear Frankie
Happy Endings
Mad Hot Ballroom
March of the Penguins
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Millions

Absolute Worst Movie I Saw This Year:
The Brothers Grimm. No plot. Just a bunch of things happening one after the other, no connection, no logical order. Terrible British accents when they should have been terrible German accents. Butchered fairy tales.

Didn't-See-It-Coming Plot Twists:
Crash
Hide and Seek
A History of Violence
The Skeleton Key

Saw-It-Coming:
Fever Pitch. I liked it anyway, ha.

Strangest Movie I Saw All Year:
Me and You and Everyone We Know

Movies I Expected To Be Great and Were:
Cinderella Man
Fever Pitch
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Interpreter
King Kong
Munich
2046
Walk the Line

Movies I Thought Would Be Crap and Were:
The Brothers Grimm. If I had paid $7.50 for this, you can bet I'd be knocking on Terry Gilliam's front door and asking for my money back. And I'd asked what happened to "Don Quixote". And then I'd say, "Oh wait, better off without you."
Elektra. She didn't make up for it.
Fantastic Four. I was jaw-dropped surprised at how bad this really was. Plus it was only 17 minutes long.
War of the Worlds. When was the last time you saw a Spileberg trailer and thought, "That's going to bloooow."?

Movies I Didn't Expect Much From But Delivered:
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I liked the first one a lot, so I didn't know what to expect. I didn't like the new songs though.
Hostage. Really good, in a European kind of way.
The Longest Yard. More serious and funnier than I expected.
The Skeleton Key. Creepy and unexpected.
The Upside of Anger. Kevin Costner.

Most Surprising Performances:
Tom Arnold, "Happy Endings".
Lisa Kudrow ("Happy Endings")

Best Picture (Most Entertaining):
King Kong. Lurved it through and through.

Best Actors (People who did the best job of not acting like actors):
Viggo Mortensen ("A History of Violence")
Eric Bana ("Munich")
Juaquin Phoenix ("Walk the Line")

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (People who did a better job but had shorter screen time):
Paul Giamatti ("Cinderella Man") Hollywood's best second-banana.
Peter Saarsgard ("Jarhead") Hollywood's second-best second banana.

Best Actress:
Ziyi Zhang ("2046")
Reese Witherspoon ("Walk the Line") Spunky, lively, cute-as-a-button.


Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
Tilda Swinton ("The Chronic-what-les of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe")
Sandra Bullock ("Crash")

Art Direction (Prettiest movie):
"2046"

Cinematography (Most interesting camera angles):
"2046"

Best Director (Best storyteller):
Spielberg ("Munich")

So there you have it. "That's about all I have to say about that."

"You know, she kinda funny."

My girl's funny. Wednesday night she went to a gay bar and sang karaoke. See what I mean? Sometimes she says things like this: "I think only people from Boston should be allowed to play for the Red Sox. Same for all the other teams. You should have to play where you're from." She's also obsessed, completely, mouth-foamingly rabid for silly detective chick-lit novels. Her new pajama pants are black with white skulls on them. I rest my case.

That being said, I'm awfully lucky to be with her. When I stop and think about it, I'm extremely relieved to be (almost) 23 and know who I'll be spending my life with. There was a time when I felt like I'd be alone for a long time and then suddenly meet someone who'd suffice and we'd spend the remaining days of our lives in solid company instead of real affection for one another. So I'm very glad the latter has turned out to be true. Very few things about my life have been consistent year in and year out, but Jamie has been. Sure, we've only been together a year, give or take a couple make-out sessions (ha!) but each moment of this year, or at least our relationship within this year, has been constant and fulfilling, like no thing I've ever known.
If/when she reads this, she'll probably gag in sappy disgust. She's funny like that too.

Rule No. 76: No Excuses, Play Like a Champion.

Been a long time. Since my last post things have been pretty busy. More and more wedding planning. I finished the semester with pretty good grades (three As, one B, one C) and now I only have one course left, which I am taking by correspondence. I moved out of the house in Fayetteville and back in with my parents to save more money for the wedding. I am now signed up to substitute teach in Rogers too, so that's the plan, mooch off of Mom in order to save money for my wedding. Somebody the other day asked me what sense it made to move farther away from my fiancee. I responded, well, since I've moved away in order to save money to marry her, I think it evens out. I'm also trying to lose weight so that I'll look better on the big day (and night). Last week I got my new computer up and running (thanks Mom, Mike and Shook) and posted the Halloween pictures. Not for the faint of heart. :::scary:::

this room is leaving me behind.

For as long as I can remember, change has bothered me. Not so much the changes I can control, but the changes I can't control. I don't mind change so long as I have chosen to implement it. If I've ever told you, or you've ever heard me quoted as saying, "Change is inevitable...change is beautiful...change makes the world go round (I distinctly remember writing that in an essay once)..." or something like that, don't call me up and start arguing with me. I realize I say some contradictory things. I am a contradictory thing. "I'm a walking contradiction." I love and hate almost everything almost equally. I am of differing opinions about most things over the course of a day. Today I presented arguments against one thing and then for that very same thing within a single topic within a single conversation within a single glass of beer. I don't know. Love me or leave me but don't try to change me.

Here's what's bugging me. When people change, which is one of those changes I can't control, one of those changes nobody consults me on, it really bothers me. I don't like it. I'm hurt, depressed, angry, confused. Like I said earlier this weekend while some friends and I were talking about these changed people, when you're friends with someone, you make an investment. It's give and take. (And don't start with me. I know that sometimes I take more than I give. There may be some people reading this and thinking, "Huh. Well, he hasn't called me lately." I'll call you soon, promise.) But you make an investment. Two people start a friendship together, you nuture it, you can see immediately its potential and you take the proper steps to insure that this friendship reaches its potential and that you are both able to reap the rewards that a proper friendship has to offer.

You offer someone your couch to crash on. You clean the vomit off of that couch. They buy you lunch and you laugh about it. They cry, your shoulder gets wet and salty and they thank you the next day when they feel better. You give them a couch for their new apartment. You then crash on their new couch. You call them from a foreign country and they throw you a party when you get back. Time passes. Lives get busy and you don't see eachother as much but that's the way it goes. People have things to do, it doesn't mean anything.

Or does it?

Does it mean that during this time apart they turn into exactly the people you dislke most in the world? Do they go throwing their bodies and emotions around with reckless abandon? These same bodies and emotions you encouraged them to safeguard and treat with respect and share only with those who most deserve and respect them? Do they forget who they are, who they have been and who they can become?

Apparently that's exactly what it means.

You gotta keep 'em separated.

List! So I meant to do this a while back but here it is now. A top 5 list. What are your top five favorite songs from artists that you don't actually like? You hate the artist, and, in spite of yourself, can't deny that you enjoy one of their songs. Which ones are they? Careful. If you think a Creed song might sneak on your list, don't mention it here. I don't want to know about that. Here are mine:

George Michael - "Faith"
Jewel - "Foolish Games"
Nelly Furtado - "Like a Bird"
Seal - "Kiss From a Rose"
Dave Matthews Band - "Crash"

get that future out of my face.

Recently, I made a list of the careers/hobbies I want to have. I want to:

-own and operate a Turkish restaurant and a restaurant with a variety of options
-teach History
-coach high school baseball and/or GM a major league team
-own a woodshop and craft fine, handmade wood furniture
-make a movie, of stills (photos) which is also silent
-there were others but I have forgotten them.
-write a book.

I would like to live in Germany, along the Rhine, for maybe a few years. I would also like to have some kids, little girls. Little girls, like cats, you can ignore and they end up mostly ok. They don't really want to have anything to do with you anyway. Just kidding mostly.

Big Papi.

Big Papi.
Originally uploaded by jmporter.

David Ortiz is amazing. Another walk-off win. Clutch.