12/21/2012

This is the longest and most information heavy post I’ve put on here to date, so therefore, I am not gonna clutter up my front page with it. It does however provide my opinions on the matter of the world ending on December 21, 2012 and why I feel the way I feel about it. If you’re not familiar with this doomsday prophecy and why people believe in it than you may find it interesting. If you’d like to read it, simply click to

Phelps-head

So apparently a picture has surfaced of Michael Phelps in the midst of taking a bong hit.  Holy Shit!  This is the worst news anyone could have heard in the history of bad news.  I was reading a lot of reader reaction to this article which showed the picture.  I heard people literally demonizing the guy saying he is supposed to be a role model for their kids and how will he never recover from this.  They also say he should lose all his endorsements and that the Olympics board should take away all 14 Olympic gold medals he’s won.  All that is a bunch of bullshit

Michael Phelps started going to the Olympics because he loves swimming, not because he wanted to be a role model for your spoiled ass kids.  People always put athletes and public figures on these ridiculous pedestals and it’s just retarded to do that.  This should be a lesson for all you worthless piece of shit parents out there to NOT RELY ON CELEBRITIES TO RAISE YOUR CHILDREN.  They are too lazy to teach their children about morals.  They don’t feel like taking the time out of their busy work schedules and marriage counseling sessions to talk to their children about these kinds of things.  It’s ridiculous to expect any human being to act in a perfect way all the time.  Most of these people are Conservative religious types but even those people believe that “only he who is without sin can cast the first stone,” so those jack-offs are being just a little hypocritical… very surprising for the kind of people they are.

This guy didn’t get to experience his late teenage/early 20’s like every other college kid in America.  The one or two times he lets lose and tries to relax people crucify him.  I say, “Shut the Fuck up.”  There are people who are saying that he can kiss his career goodbye because of this.  Marijuana is NOT a performance enhancing drug.  I will go so far as to say that if Michael Phelps can toke up once in a while and continue to win gold medal after gold medal, he should win another gold medal for that because if nothing else, pot makes the act of swimming nearly impossible.  (Allegedly) Michael Phelps smokes pot BUT HE’S THE BEST SWIMMER IN THE W O R L D.   If anything that proves everything they want you to think about marijuana is an absolute lie.  They say marijuana will ruin your life, well this guy smoked marijuana and won 14 fuckin Olympic gold medals.  Doesn’t sound like his life has been ruined to me.  He even got to have his cake and fucking eat it too.  The thing that really annoyed me about every post that trashed Michael Phelps and weed was that they referred to marijuana as “dope.”  Who the fuck calls it dope anymore?  This isn’t the fucking 80s.

Some people said he’s never going to recover from this.  Dude, he got a DUI when he was 19 years old, his career never fucking slowed down.  I’d rather my children’s role models toking up in the privacy of his own home then driving around drunk.

I will throw a stat out there that is maybe a little biased but reasonably accurate none the less.  I wouldn’t be surprised if 40% or more college students smoke marijuana or have smoked marijuana.  The other 60% is comprised of: a) People who actually consider it a drug, b) Close minded right winged religious whack jobs who have some sort of moral superiority complex about themselves, and c) People who want to try it but are too afraid to ask.  It’s just something that people do.  It doesn’t kill brain cells.  It doesn’t make them stupid.  Some people just need a little something to take the edge off of this shitty ass world.  I don’t want to hear how we could do something acceptable like alcohol especially considering alcohol’s track record.

Personally, I think that if alcohol is legal, then marijuana should be legal as well.  There are hundreds of alcohol poisoning and overdose deaths each year, there has never been a marijuana overdose death in the entire history of human use.  Not to mention the toxicity of alcohol compared to marijuana.  We don’t need to talk about the fact that alcohol can cause people to become violent/beligerant and perhaps even kill someone or themselves by driving or fighting.  Where alcohol contributes to aggressive behavior, marijuana reduces the likelihood of aggression in the user.

Really the whole thing is a crap chute.  The only reason marijuana is illegal is because of a shitty Conservative/religious propaganda movie called “Reefer Madness,” which anyone who’s ever smoked weed would know is completely and utterly untrue.  That plus the whole Textile vs. Hemp war.  Hemp was demonized by the textile industry and something that should never have been illegal in the first place became associated with a stigma that it shouldn’t be associated with.

Cautiously Optimistic

I haven’t posted in a while and I have a perfectly good reason for that.

I was busy.

Anyway, since I last posted we were all witnesses to history.  It doesn’t matter whether you agree with Obama or not (God knows there are plenty of areas where I disagree with him).  The mere fact that we elected a black man into the presidency is a testament to our country (or at least the VAST MAJORITY OF IT)  having moved on from racism and bigotry.  However, there is a very big problem in our country.  There are people in America, the land of the free, who still hearken back to a period in our history where a couple of back country redneck farmers had slaves.  After all, the white man had slaves and is the scum of the Earth (I should be saying white Americans, because obviously we’re the only country who ever owned slaves… waiting for the sarcasm to sink in).

Well to that, I say, with all due respect… Shut the fuck up.  Just because I have the same skin color as a group of people who once had slaves doesn’t mean I, in any way, condone the practice or the people who took part in it.  Similarly, just because you have the same skin color as a people who were once held as slaves doesn’t mean you have the right to say anything to me about your “terrible past.”  Nothing makes me more mad then to see people all around me decide that that’s a good enough reason to not achieve everything that’s in their power to achieve.  I’ve seen people sit around and complain about the evil deeds of the white man, how the white man keeps them down.  Only you are keeping yourself down.

I will not try to say that racism doesn’t exist.  Of course there will be a couple quacks who think it’s the right worldview to have.  All I am saying is that ‘racism’ is no longer a legitimate reason to not do anything that you want to do.  It’s simply no longer acceptable to hide behind your skin color and claim ‘racism’ when something doesn’t go your way.  We’ve seen it already people.  We have a black president now.  You know what that means?  THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF AMERICA DID NOT JUDGE HIM BASED ON THE COLOR OF HIS SKIN.

I am sick of people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who travel the country looking for something they can claim to be a racial injustice (sometimes they’re right… most of the time they’re full of shit), so they can pull their pulpits out and start preaching about the racist white people.  I am sick of constantly getting the feeling that the only good white person is a white person who feels guilty for being white.  It’s not going to happen.  I’m proud of my heritage (as slave-free as it is), just as much as I am proud that our country stepped up to the plate and took a huge leap forward into what will hopefully be a bigotry free future.  While I don’t necessarily agree with President Obama on a number of issues the fact remains that he’s our president, and as such I will proudly stand behind him and support him while he is president.  Hopefully he doesn’t choke on a pretzel.

Going into this, he had an approval rating in the 80%’s, but no presidential nominee or candidate has ever sustained such a high approval rating.  He is human and it is inevitable that he will fuck up probably more than one time.  As soon as he does people will start turning on him.  In all likelihood, the mainstream media will be among the first.  I go toward the next 4 or 8 years with a sense of cautious optimism.  I don’t want to hold him on as high of a pedestal as most of the country is seeming to do because in the end, he will never live up to peoples expectations.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life it’s to keep expectations low, that way you’re never disappointed.  The obvious exception to that being Bush.  I gave him all the chances I could but the lower I dropped the bar, he always managed to dip right under it.

P.S.  I want people to understand that I referred to “African Americans” as “Black” in this post for two reasons.

1. It’s a lot easier to write “Black” than “African American” especially for a lazy college student who could probably use some sleep.
2. I don’t in any way find the term “Black” to be racially charged or offensive… it’s the thought that counts.
   

Size 10’s

“No one should read anything more into it than what it was, which was an individual throwing a shoe.”

This is what Eric Zahren, a Secret Service spokesman said about a recent incident in which an Iraqui journalist threw both of his shoes at President Bush during a press conference.  There’s a video of it up online.  I have to admit, it’s pretty awesome to see Bush totally dodging both shoes like a cat.  I could imagine Bush thinking, “Alright, when the hell are they gonna stop this guy?”

The President made light of the situation with a joke about the size of the shoes thrown- size 10’s.  They are leaving this guys punishment in the hands of the Iraqi’s.  He’s probably just going to get a fine.  Small price to pay, especially when he’s being heralded as a national hero.

Now, imagine if an American had thrown their shoes at the President.  There would be no fines, no jail time, no paper trail.  In all probability, that person would cease to exist and no one would ever see or hear from them again.

Imagine if an American went over to any middle eastern country and threw their shoes at their leader.  What would happen?

All I’m saying is, you don’t do anything hostile toward another country’s leader, and if you do do it you should get more then a fine.  I don’t know how anyone could think that’s a good idea.  If you’re gonna throw a shoe at Bush you might as well shit in a bag and light it on fire on the White House steps.  What we have here is a culture problem.  In their country, it’s an insult to have shoes thrown at you.  In our country, if you throw your shoes at someone they just think you’re crazy.  In the end, this guy didn’t have any impact on anything what-so-ever except to show that the Secret Service obviously wasn’t paying attention and as far as I know, that’s not something that should happen.  If someone is throwing their shoes at the President during a press conference, at least stop him before he gets to the second shoe.

In the wake of this really screwed up story we are only left to wonder what would have happened if that man had a gun.  Judging by how promptly the Secret Service reacted, Dick Cheney would be the President of the United States.

Person vs. People

A person is smart. A person can be reasoned with and talked to in a civilized and mature manner.  You can tell a person the way things are and how they are to act.  A person follows rules (the important ones anyway).  A person has common sense and a set of morals (whether they’re bad morals or otherwise).  More importantly, a person is able to act as an individual.  This means that a person has the ability to employ the use of critical thinking and deductive reasoning to solve a problem and achieve the best possible outcome.  The mere fact that we can do that places us at the top of the chain of life on this planet and it separates us from every other animal in the world.

However, if you were to grab a handful of persons and put them within close proximity of one another, you would find that an alarming change occurs.  Instead, you are left with something else entirely.  What you have is a single organism that is dangerous in it’s complete impulsiveness and ignorance; an organism who’s parts compete ferociously with each other.  You don’t have what rightfully should be a group of persons who live, breathe, and think as individuals… you have people.

People are ruthless, hateful, greedy, and (don’t ever forget this one) stupid.  You can’t tell people how things are and how to act.  People don’t follow rules.  People don’t have common sense.  Above everything else… people are not only incapable of being individuals, but they always abandon those traits that separate the human race from every other creation.  (When in a group) People have no intelligence, reason, civility, or compassion.  There is no such thing as non-conformity.  Among all the other flaws we possess as a race, the most unfortunate would be that our very survival is dependent upon social interaction.

There are other species that live in groups and require varying degrees of social contact in much the same way humans do.  These animals travel and hunt in groups.  Everything they do is rooted in doing what is best for the survival of their unit.  This is different from what happens to humans.  They may come together to form groups but each person brings something to the table that complicates everything.  Greed is an emotion that is more destructive then any other.  All the persons that make up a group of people will do whatever it takes to achieve their own personal gains, no matter the cost.  People will stab each other in the back and will even stoop as low as destroying one of it’s own if it will bring them one step closer to getting what they want.  This is why a person can solve problems, but people can not.  In all actuality, a person will achieve more on his own then people will.  A person solves problems… people create problems.

I never thought I would ever have to think about that as much as I did but I was forced to last week when a mob of people trampled a Wal-Mart worker to death so they could get a fucking flat screened TV.  It’s outrageous that this story isn’t a lie.  It only proves that everything I have said is absolutely true and I hate to say it, but it is gonna cause our downfall.

Everyone always talk about how we should work together to solve problems but as time goes by it only becomes more obvious that we will never be able to pull that off successfully.  It’s crazy that a person would kill another person just to get a TV.  Oh wait… it wasn’t a person that killed the worker, it was PEOPLE.

The saddest part about this whole thing is that this shit happened… and no one got to keep the TV.

The Times They are A’Changin

Until today, I never really sat down to think about how the world evolved into what it is now, from what it was back when I was a kid, as far back as I can remember.  I was flipping through the TV channels today, unable to find anything worth watching, when I reached Nickelodeon and was curious to see what was on as I literally grew up watching the channel every day.  I found that as I watched, I grew more and more agitated that Nickelodeon, the channel that I grew up watching .  Anyway, I have a point, and that is this: as you walk around living your life, day after day, you never really notice big changes in society because: a big change is nothing more than a series of small changes that occur over a prolonged period of time so as to gradually ease you into the changes.

I will start with an example.  The show Rocko’s Modern Life was on Nickelodeon in the mid nineties.  There was a character on that show named Really Really Big Man.  One of Really Really Big Man’s powers was he had the ability to shoot his nipples off of his body, they would then attach themselves to his target’s eyes to show them the future.  I don’t care who you are, you can’t tell me that someone saying, “Gaze into my nipples of the future” then shooting his nipples at your eyes isn’t the most fucked up hilarious thing ever.  You know that in kids programming these days you would never see anything even remotely as edgy as that.  Hell, you’d be lucky to see a childrens program that even acknowledged that nipples even existed.  It’s hard to deny that the kids shows of my generation were the best ever.  They were so integral in our lives that we look back to them as one of the best parts of our childhoods.  Simply mention the shows, “Ren & Stimpy, Ahhh! Real Monsters, Doug, Salute Your Shorts, The Angry Beavers, CatDog” you will defiantly hear about them.  The only thing we can say about the cartoons of today is how much we can’t stand how stupidly dull and not funny they are (except for Spongebob haha).

The whole point is within my lifetime, a fairly short 20 years, I look back and it is very easy to see how much society has changed since the mid-nineties.  I wouldn’t say it’s a good change but at the same time it’s hard to say whether or not the change will be bad.  All I know is the kids watching what’s on Nickelodeon today won’t feel the same way about their childhood shows that my generation did and still does to this day.

Politicians: Exactly how much shit are they full of?

Politician: a leader engaged in civil administration.

That’s a pretty accurate definition of what a politician is.  They’re leaders who are engaged in civil administration.  Leaders, however, are not required to be good at leading.  The next time you’re with a group of friends, tell them to follow you somewhere, anywhere… make up any reason you want.  If they listen to you and follow you that makes you a leader.  However, the people who are following you will probably think you’re an asshole when they find out that you weren’t going anywhere and you had no reason to go there.  You have just done something that politicians are really good at… convincing people to follow them.  Also, just like a politician, you’ve succeeded in making no progress what-so-ever and wasting everyone’s time, which not only makes you a bad leader… it also makes you an asshole (and that’s not the only correct judgement of you you’re “friends” make when talking about you behind your back either).

All politicians are assholes.  Now, just because that sounds like an “unfair generalization” doesn’t mean that it is one.  The vast majority of Americans belong to either the lower class, working class, or the lower to upper middle class.  The politicians that represent them don’t belong to any of those classes.  The upper class is reserved for the mere 1% of Americans who act as the “grand conceptulizers,” those who have great influence over the nations institutions.  Politicians would fall in that category.  It doesn’t matter how much money they make or how much they’re worth.  The mere fact that they are politicians puts them in the upper class.

The upper class is the one that likes to be viewed as not only above everyone else, but separated from everyone else.  We’re like the psychologically disturbed family member who makes everyone feel uncomfortable at Thanksgiving dinner but they keep shoveling turkey on our plate praying that the Tryptophan in the turkey meat will put us in a coma.  At least then we could still be in the family and no one would have to deal with our tediously repetitive yet lawfully acceptable outbursts where we tell them how much we don’t approve of them.  The only difference between that situation and this situation is that we’re not in a coma and we’re forced to suffer through the endless supply of bull shit while our vocal displays of disapproval fall on deaf ears.

The most annoying thing about politicians is that they pretend to care about our problems when they really don’t give a shit.  It’s easy to pretend to give a shit when you’re so full of shit.  It’s gotten out of control.  This is the only country on Earth where a candidate can run for president and win their parties nomination based solely on the platform of change…..

………

……. still waiting…..

Oh, that’s it?  See, cuz I kinda thought I would be told not just what needs to be changed, but how exactly it’s going to be changed.  The idea of “change” is abstract, therefore, not a single fucking person knows what it means.  I don’t care how much you think you know what it means, you don’t.  The idea of change is no more or less abstract then the idea of love, luck, hate, etc.  No candidate would ever be taken seriously if they ran for president under the idea of bringing love to everyone.  What kind of love is it?  You don’t know either, that could be because the word love has no concrete meaning.  Maybe he’s bringing the love of shaking babies, or autoerotic asphyxiation to Americas’ Executive branch.  God knows the Legislative branch has the largest concentration of people who jerk off with belts around their necks… maybe it takes the edge off… sitting around saying “yea” and “nay” all day must be exhausting.

The supporters of that candidate are completely incapable of understanding this but I will tell you what’s going to change if that person gets elected.  Absolutly fucking nothing.  Terrorists are still going to hate us and try to kill us, the KKK will continue to be ignorant racists, gas prices will continue to go up along with the prices of back-alley blow jobs, crime and drugs will continue to rule the inner cities, and the population of fat people in America will continue to have greater numbers then the total population of America itself (special thanks to Little Britain USA).  I should add that his opposition won’t fix any of those problems either, but keep in mind, he never really promised his supporters that things would “change” should he be elected.

The only thing they want is power.  Power is a very valuable thing… it’s even more valuable then money and respect (which politicians certainly don’t deserve).  The most powerful man in America is the president.  The most powerful nation on Earth is America.  Therefore, the President of the United States is the most powerful man in the world, but, that doesn’t mean anyone likes him.

I feel more comfortable supporting the guy from the Dos Equis commercials.  He may not be the most powerful man in the world, but he’s definately the most interesting man in the world.

Fun Job: It’s not an oxy-moron

Allow me to be a psychic for a second and predict what you’re thinking… “That’s not possible, the word ‘fun’ and the word ‘job’ are antonyms (opposites of each other) they can’t exist in the same sentence… your job isn’t supposed to be fun, that’s why its called a job.”  Well, allow me to burst your bubble of pre-conceived notions about how the world works and let you in on a little secret… Everyone on this planet has something that they love to do, and the odds are extremely favorable that (supposing you try to find it) you can get paid doing it.

I learned this lesson myself.  As recently as last year I had no goals or aspirations.  I hated my job; I hated going to school.  I had absolutly no idea what I wanted to do with my life and I was getting nervous about what my future would be.  I decided that I didn’t want to be nervous about my future anymore, so I sat down and contemplated.  I thought about the things that I love to do most in this world and directly at the top of the list… watch movies.  I made the decision… I am going to be a filmmaker.  It doesn’t matter whether I make it big and get rich, or whether I have to live in a car.  I will make movies, period.

Fast forward to this past June and my first film crew job.  I was a Grip/Production Assistant on an ultra low budget film called “Where the Cypress Grows.”  I learned a lot and realized that it’s really fuckin fun to make movies.  That job ended and I already had another one lined up.

My last day on this job is tomorrow (Oct. 13, 2008).  I am a Production Assistant on an independent film called “Respire.”  A production assistant is basically the film crew’s bitch.  We have to be available to assist any department (whether it be: makeup, wardrobe, grip, electrical, lighting, or camera departments) whenever they need help.  The coolest thing about it is the networking I was able to do.  I’m working with the grip crew that worked on Eagle Eye, Body of Lies, Night at the Museum II and The Wire, the Director of Photography who filmed a season or two of The Wire and was camera operator on Live Free or Die Hard, and the Prop Master who did props for: Major Payne, Mars Attacks!, Red Dragon, Wedding Crashers, and Transformers 2 (among others).  The point I’m trying to make is that I was lucky enough to land this gig where the crew possesses a wealth of knowledge that is easy to tap into by simply working with them. I can say with conviction that I have learned more about making movies by working with all these guys over the past month then I’ve learned in my whole life.

I guess the biggest revelation for me is that this is without a doubt the most fun and exciting job I’ve ever had.  It boggles my mind that people actually do this for a living and are able to live a very healthy lifestyle doing it.  I would never have imagined that a job of any kind would be as fun, challenging, and interesting as this was.  Watching movies has been my number one favorite activity for as long as I can remember, but making movies is quite an amazing experience.  I was struck when I realized my primary goal in life… to one day be able to entertain a movie going audience with my movies as much as other peoples movies entertain me.

Anyway, if you don’t know what you want to do with your career, just figure out something that brings you complete joy and chase that.  I don’t know about you but I’d much rather do what I love and be poor then be rich and miserable. So, 40 years from now, when you’re working the drive thru at McDonalds (or God forbid, Taco Bell) you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.

Everyone has dreams, but not everyone chases them.

There’s no “me” in team

Wow, first post on WordPress.  I’m used to LiveJournal but I decided not to be a bitch anymore and get this. I never noticed this before but it’s pretty interesting how both WordPress and LiveJournal are comprised of two words that have no spaces in between them but the first letter of each word is capitalized.  Coincidence?  Very curious…

It’s pretty cool I guess.  If you want to read my old blog CLICK HERE.  Doesn’t really matter I guess since no one will read this anyway.  I mean I’ll try to have people read it but, I mean honestly, I don’t think many people will.

But anyway, for those of you who ARE reading it….

I’m going to assume that we’ve all heard the tired cliche, “There’s no “me” in team.”  Let’s de-construct that phrase, shall we?

I suppose that technically there is “me” in team, in the literal sense.  There is an “m” and an “e.”  They’re not in an order that spells “me” but they’re in there so I guess one could say that there is me in team.  You know what I say to them… FUCK YOU YOU’RE WRONG.

Others say, “There’s no “I” in team.”

That’s indisputable.  Spell “team,” T.E.A.M.  I don’t see a fucking “I.”

In conclusion:

There’s no “me” in team.  Nor is there an “I” in team.  That’s why it’s a team.  A TEAM: a number of persons associated in one joint action.  Some people in teams like to act like they’re not in a team.  But they’re wrong, you’re in a fucking team asshole.  The only way those phrases could be changed would be to either say, “‘I’ am not in a Team,” or “The Team does not have ‘me’ in it.”  If either of those two phrases applies to you, you’re a loser.  If you’re one of those people who are in a team but don’t act like it, you’re an asshole.