29 Jan 04 Sound barricades itself into rolls of peautbutter when you speak….

Work was ok. Kind of tired, not because I had to work very hard but because I couldn't get to sleep until close to 1 AM. 1AM-4AM equals three hours of sleep, work for 10 hours and still couldn't fall asleep for a nap when I got home.

Watched The Adventures of Sebastian Cole instead of napping. Not a bad movie, but not a great one either. It's about a rather disillusioned teen in the early 80's trying to figure out what he wants out of life, you're basic “coming-of-age” story. Things get turned around when his stepfather announces that he wants to become a woman, he's not gay but he just wants to become a woman. The character was shamelessy stolen from John Irving's The World According To Garp, but with a little twist to seperate it. All of you 80's loving chicks will probably swoon over Sebastian (Adrien Grenier), he just exudes 80's coolness. The ending is a bit lacking, but I'll leave that up to you all. Check it out.

So I need to get a second job because A) I need extra money to take care of some credit card debt, B) I have way to much free time on my hands, and C) I need to get out more and observe my favorite creature as much as I can, humans. So if anyone would like me to be their personal little slave four days a week let me know and make me an offer. I'm good at watching movies and picking out the fallacies of the world, although those aren't really marketable skills these days. Oh, and I can beat up people for you, as long as they are a child, a midget, or a vegetable. Kidding.

So, until then. When? You know, then. When then? Later. When will then be now? Soon.

28 Jan 04 A whale of a tale……

See, now even the sea has terrorists. Where is Ahab when you need him eh?

28 Jan 04 The Covenant of the Potent Cave…..

I was watching The Believer and it got me thinking about our whole race vs. belief thing. The movie is about a young Jewish man (Ryan Gosling, Murder By Numbers, Remember The Titians) that is struggling with his own Jewish beliefs and in the process becomes an influential pawn in an anti-semitic underground movement. The movie is great, and makes you consider your own beliefs and what we can become if we are too damn smart for our own good. It is one of the only modern nazi-ish movies that focused more on anti-semitism rather than hatred against blacks.

The movie reminded me of an arguement I had with someone a while back about Judaism. They told me that they were a quarter Jewish and I told them that that was impossible, as Judaism is a belief system and not a race. This went back and forth for a while until we both agreed that it was a hard pill to swallow no matter how you look at it. But I ask you, are race and religion mutually exclusive entities? Now I know that there is a Jewish bloodline and all, but realistically it is only a systems of beliefs. And this is not to say that it is the wrong system of beliefs, neither is Christianity, Buddhism, Catholicism, or Facism for that matter. They are all a just a system of beliefs that people adopt in order for them to have hope in their lives. So if these are just belief systems, how come race comes into play whenever these are discussed? Are we born into our heritage or are we conditioned to it?

For me I have never been able to understand why someone's system of beliefs is so important to other people. Christians try to convert Catholics and Catholics try to turn Jews who in turn shun everyone else that isn't a member of “the chosen people.” What does it all matter? I'm not a religious person at all, my mother is a Thai Buddhist and my father was a Baptist and I'm just floating somewhere in the middle. But if we all believe in the basic goodness of our fellow man and believe in treating them all as equals then why should it matter at what angle we approach God? Now I'm not saying that I agree with the practices of every religion but I can respect most of it. I've seen people almost get in fist fights over theological discussions that were basically just “My god is better than your god….” crap. Is that what your God teaches you? Hatred? Fear? I doubt it, if anything the most important lesson in any religion is tolerance. What happened to that? What happened to “Love your fellow man”?

Now when you throw race into the picture you open up an entirely new can of worms. Nazi's believe that blacks and Jews are the lower races on the hierarchy of existence. Why? It doesn't make any sense. Now I know that none of you out there are Nazi's or anything, but can you honestly say that you don't look at black people, hispanic people, or Jewish people differently? Maybe I'm wrong and jaded because I work around a bunch of low rent, secretly racist fucks that will lean right over to me and refer to a group of Chinese people as “chinks”. I know everyone reading this is an intelligent and tolerant being that has the sense to look at the world with open eyes, but what about the rest of the world? Every day you see race be such a huge fucking issue. In 2,000+ years we have been able to do amazing things with technology, science, and philosophy, but we are unable to conquer this tiny fucking hurdle. At work we have these giant murals painted on the walls that depict different scenes on the boat and feature various and diverse groups of people. Some guest wrote a letter to Michael Eisner about how there were no blacks in the paintings, like he gives a shit. There are though, it's pretty obvious, but I guess they weren't painted black enough. What if they had been? What if they looked the way cartoons drew black people back in the 40's and 50's, ultra-dark skin, big-lips, and large underbites? I'm sure she'd be outraged then wouldn't she? My point is what is the big fucking deal about the color of someone's skin or the content of their holy book? We've come so far as people to not be able to deal with this. Personally I don't see race at all, some of you may disagree but I know what is in my heart. You know what I think of when I think of different races; dwarf, elf, hobbit, and human. Everyone on this planet falls into that last category, we are all just human. Who knows, I might be wrong and have just played way too much Dungeons & Dragons in my time.

But fuck what do I know? I'm just a lowly, young cynic trying to figure all out myself. Who am I too judge and comment on this scary world. A world that I both hate and love unconditionally at the same time. Are we all just frightened sheep, or are we the shepard tending to the flock of our own destiny? Who knows.

I burnt our my brain on networking protocols, MIME and S/MIME setup, and a bunch of other shit today which caused me to lapse into a bit of a coma. In otherwords I fell asleep while studying stuff and took an extended nap and therefore won't be able to sleep tonight. This means work tomorrow will suck. Oh well, life goes on as always.

Oh and I also watched Once Upon A Time in Mexico today. I liked but of course Johnny Depp stole the show away from the rest of the cast. I'm sorry, I just don't like Antonio Banderas, he just irks me in the worst way. I still need to watch El Mariachi, which from what I've read is a lesson in low-budget film tricks. Director Robert Rodriguez supposedly made it for $7,000, which is a miraculous feat for an action movie.

Ok, I'm hungry, I'm going to go and masticate.

Good night, love you all. Take care.

28 Jan 04 The Art of the Tortured Infant….

I Bar was fun. I am home safely and a little bit buzzed. Not much, but just a little bit. Now I never go out to clubs to meet women. Never in my life has my agenda to go out and “pick up on some chicks”. But tonight was a bit different, although initially I wasn't set out to meet anyone. However tonight a cute little chick caught my eye that I just couldn't let go unless I said “Hi”. She was cute, she could dance, and I noticed her giving me a couple of glances or two. Stage one activated. Actually I managed to talk to the little lady and she seemed cool enough to warrant the next dreaded question. “Can I call you sometime?” Luckily I was met with a yes, to which I told her that we should hang out outside of the club arena, to which she agreed. I'm shocked. I never try and pick up on females because I'm too shy and I always think that they think that I am a big dork. Which of course I am, but how should they be able to tell under the guise of colored lights and strobes. So phone numbers were exchanged, and egos were boosted. Man I love women.

Now time for sleep, or maybe a movie. It's late, or is it early? Hmmmm.

27 Jan 04 Your eyes shine with the greed of a misplaced tea strainer…..

Today four hours of my life were stolen from me never to return. You see as many of you know I work for a company that is sub-contracted by Disney and I work out at Disney Cruise Lines. So, once a year we have our “Annual Disney Cruiselines Brainwash Session” hosted by two Disney 'cast members' that wouldn't know reality if it stood up and slapped them in the face with a wet noodle. An hour drive there, a two hour session, and then an hour drive back is time that I will never be able to have back. The meeting consisted of watching badly edited videos of the port and the boat set to Disney theme songs, little games meant to spur our lust for knowledge of the cruise by offering mediocre prizes, group activites on par with a bad self-help group, and then we had nap time. I'm kidding about the last one but that's what they were treating us like, a room full of grade-schoolers. I mean think of a room full of drunks, beach-bums, and high school dropouts acting out little skits about “How Can We Preserve The Magical Image of Disney While Maintaining A Good Work Enviroment?” Fucking ridiculous! The only good thing is that they gave us two tickets to whatever park we want to go to, which brings my total up to five now. So who wants to go and spend a day at Epcot drinking our way around the world? Me, me!

Then off to the Clerk of Courts in order to take care of a little business concerning my license. Apparently it was going to be suspended on Feb. 10th due to an unpaid fine. As you may or may not recall I got pulled over by a pig a while back an received some tickets. One for careless driving (which I took to traffic court) and one for no proof of insurance. All I had to do to get rid of the no insurance one was go to the Clerk and show them proof and bam, it'd be gone. Well, on October 27th I did that and I thought I was all done. Well apparently I was supposed to pay a $5 dismissal fee as well, which I didn't. Why? Because nobody fucking told me! The clerk just let me walk out without paying the fee, like I knew I was supposed to. So they tried to charge me a $12 late fee as well, to which I said “Hell No!” Today's clerk told me that I must have forgotten that she told me or not paid attention to the receipt. What receipt? The previous bitch didn't give me one, so let me pay the five spot and get the hell outta this place. We went back and forth for a while until she realized that I was right. Why in the hell would I walk out without paying the $5 if she had told me I needed to? Just to make my life more adventurous and exciting? For an excuse to visit bereft and sad Titusville? I think not! So, $5 dollars later and I'm off back to Orlando.

I stopped by Best Buy and of course couldn't walk out empty handed. I picked up O' Brother Where Art Thou? and Clerks for $25 which isn't bad. Plus, when I got home my El Mariachi three pak had arrived which includes El Mariachi, Desperado, and Once Upon A Time in Mexico. All for just $25 also. Yeah, the Best Buy card hasn't cooled down since I got it. Oh well who cares, life is debt in one form or another. Perhaps I'll just have to go 'Project Mayhem' and help us all out. Or not. Also….

Movies On Deck From NetFlix

• The Adventures of Sebastian Cole
• My Dinner with Andre
• The Believer

So now I've got some movie watching ready to happen. As well as some school stuff too, but I that'll way till later. Just need to do a MIME lab and take some practice tests on Networking again, easy-peasy, japanesy.

Later, and until next time….take care of yourselves aaaaaaand each other.

27 Jan 04 Let the wanking begin!….

Courtesy of Bizstone.Com, is this not the best hardcore site you've ever seen?

CummingFirst.com

Yes, it's 2 AM, do you know where your internet is?

26 Jan 04 YOU take five…..

For all of you aspiring photographers out there….

Could be your ticket to fame, fortune, and the opportunity to slap the shit out of Ben Affleck.

26 Jan 04 Legions of Communists worship your robust cannabalism of Capitalists clad in junk mail suits….

Saturday Night with Hank

The Henry Rollins performance at the House of Blues on Saturday night was great. He had a very political agenda on this one and talked a lot about Bush, The State of the Union address, and getting out there and voting. Funny that I was just commenting on this stuff the other day too. He also had some great stories about his unfettered love for both Sheryl Crow and Anne Coulter. Of course, as per usual, the crowd was sub-par. One couple in particular made me want to beat the living dog shit out of them. Apparently they thought it was the 'jackass in the crowd' show, and not a Henry Rollins show. The fat, ugly, female of the duo took it upon herself to loudly screech at damn near everything that came out of Hank's mouth, whether it was appropriate or not. Then, her equally aesthetically-challenged boyfriend decided that it was his job to repeat the last four or five words of each of Henry's statements, laugh really loud and obnoxiously, and then tell everyone that what he just said was “funny”. Thanks asshole, I didn't know that that was funny until you let me know. Needless to say we found a spot on the other side of the room, but not before telling the two to shut the fuck up. It was a great show though, and I wish he came to Florida a little more often.

Sunday Night Fever

Sunday and I went to 's party. Everyone there was pretty cool, and way too smart. I don't think I've been to a party in a long time where most of the people in the room have degrees in this, that, and what have you. “I work in film…”, “I do web design…”, “….I'm a digital media teacher.” And although it was all impressive and refreshing to talk to people that actually had brains, it was also a bit humbing considering my current status in the world. Regardless of that, a good time was had by all it seemed. Lib, thanks for having us and happy birthday….old lady. Kidding!

We then ventured down to I Bar to dance to some cheesy 80's music. As always it was fun and I probably drank too much. While I was standing upstairs and looking out into the crowd I noticed my friend John (guy who's wife I supposedly slept with) dancing with some friends. My fight or flight instinct took over my mind for a moment as I pondered a dozen scenario's of how this could turn out. I took upon myself to go down and pluck him from the crowd so he and I could have a little discussion. Luckily he wasn't that drunk yet, because John is usually a punch-first-ask-questions-later kind of guy, so the first hurdle was out of the way. I won't go into the details but we managed to smooth everything out without any violence or what have you. I don't think I'll be hanging out the guy any time soon, but he doesn't want to completely smash my face anymore. If we hung out there would still be just too much tension and anxiety and that is shit I just don't need. So that was that.

So now I've kind of got a headache and feel like doing nothing most of the day. I do have a ton of reading I need to do, and I should put in some time at school. Eh, or maybe I'll just go sit in the tub for a bit and then go and see a movie.

Catch you all later.

24 Jan 04 Slappy Happy Sleepiness…..

The Rollins show was great. I'm too tired to go into details so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Need to sleep, to get up at 4 for work.

Woe is I.

Good night.

23 Jan 04 The Queens of the Sacrificial Cowboy…..

I had to go to Wal-Mart to return something and I saw the coolest thing. As I was driving through the parking lot I saw an older, black couple exiting the store. They were probably in their early to mid-60's or so and dressed rather Cosby-ish. The wife of the group was pushing the cart and when she got to a little incline in the parking lot she hopped up on that little bar and rode on the cart for about 50 feet just like we all used to (and some of us still do) when we were kids. All the while the husband is laughing and smiling at his wife, whom he is obviously still very much in love with. It was amazing and beautiful to see two older people that still have a zeal and a lust for life that some people in their 20's don't even have. I can only hope that I have half of that when I am in my 60's (if I make it that far).

It seems that people in this day and age have lost the meaning of what life is all about. Not to say that I know, or anyone really does know, but it is the want and the pursuit that is important right. So many people I talk to or, well let's face it I eavesdrop on them, could care less that the world is being polluted, children are getting a lackluster education, and people are starving all over the country. I know I bring it up a lot but people seem to be so concerned with the lives of all of these 'characters' on over a dozen reality shows. This isn't reality. These shows are a tactic to lure you into a false sense of reality and dull the senses as to what is important. It is control through fear and influence I tell you. Ok, check this shit. NBC air shows such as The Apprentice, Average Joe, Fear Factor, and the all new Who Wants to Marry My Dad. Now these four shows appeal to a wide demographic of people such as office weasels, the average consumer, and thrill seekers, and the family types. Now that NBC has the attention of a broad range of people they can be sure to air plenty of ads for consumer products owned by their parent company, G&E. As you may well know G&E is one of the largest corporations in the world. What you may not know is that G&E not only makes light bulbs, they also make missles. Missles that were, and are, being used in this unjustified war. Not only that, but G&E is also a Bush campaign contributor. So the more viewers NBC gets, the more profit they make, and the more they can contribute to the man that will buy and use their missles. I think I know where the real axis of evil is, and I don't need to fly overseas to get there.

Seriously though, what the fuck are we doing here? I mean really, do you really think we were put here to violate and rape the planet like a prison inmate on his first day? This planet has been around for millions of years, MILLIONS. And it has only taken us 2,000 years to fuck it up to the point of complete and utter disgust. I think there is hope however. There are plenty of wonderful, smart, and golden-hearted individuals out there that are in a position to make changes. But they can only be as strong as the will of the people. People always say, “Oh, well what can we do? What's the point?” Where would we be if everyone in history had this complacent and negative attitude? We certainly wouldn't all be here, or at least this variation of here. Sure, I don't agree at all with the way that this country was founded, on blood. It was founded by systematically slaughtering and decimating almost an entire culture of people, and that is awful. The fact is though, it happened, and as long as we know that, we can learn from it. However this country was still born because there were those that were not afraid of those above them. They were not afraid of taking a chance in something they believed in, and that's what we all have to do. Believe in ourselves and out ability to make change. You can't rely on just the politicians, in truth it isn't their fault. We the people are too blame, because they are the result of what we put into our system. This is the best we can do people. Garbarge in, garbage out. Our current system, educational, economical, and political, is only producing what it can, idiot presidents out of touch with reality. In order to change things we must start at the source I think. We need to properly educate ourselves and our children so that when the time comes we can all step up and take our place in society and make it better. We live in a beautiful fucking world people, let's not give up on it just yet.

So where does that leave all of us here, at the smaller scale? Well, for starters we can all plan on voting in November. Hell, it doesn't even matter who you vote for (as long as it isn't Bush), just get out there and believe in something enough to try and make a difference. Everyday I see something that makes me glad to be alive in this world, in this time, and in this country. I would hate to see it all go to shit. One day I may have children and they may have children and I would like them to live in a lush, beautiful and safe world. I don't want them to only read about the smell of an ocean breeze, or only know trees from they see in books because the Earth is so polluted they are devoid of these things. Hell, and most of you may think that this is major nerdy but fuck you, I hope that one day the world is the way it is in Star Trek. Now I'm not talking vulcans and phasers, but how the world is. They are no longer ruled by money and politics, but the pursuit of knowledge and other beings. Now I know that is all a bit idealistic, but it's a good thought. I mean really, it that all that matters to the world of today, money, sex, greed, and Survivor? The world doesn't revolve around getting your dick (or what have you) wet, I'm sorry to tell you.

So my point is, at least I think it is, is that we can't give up. Whether it be in our own personal lives or on the world as a whole. If you give up and let them take you then they win, and we can't have that. Another thing to remember is that no matter how shitty things get, no matter how much you think that your life sucks, there are hundreds of other people out there that have it much worse. Each and every day that you get to open your eyes is a day that you should love and cherish. And although I don't know most of you, I like you and I like your life because you have one.* There are plenty of people that don't anymore. So love each day, no matter what.

Let's get Bush out of there people, before he declares war on the moon or something.

Take care, love, peace, and happiness to all.

-FryGuy

*For those of you keeping score I 'borrowed' this bit of quote from the Henry Rollins DVD, Talking From The Box. So don't say I don't give credit where credit is due.

23 Jan 04 Sailing the sea of curdled goat's milk in a boat of blasphemy…

Watched two movies last night while staying up way too late. Melvin Goes to Dinner is a cool indie movie that is sort of like My Dinner With Andre except with four people instead of two. What starts out as a just a regular dinner turns into four people confessing their deepest secrets that most people only tell to their closest friends. It's directed by Bob Odenkirk of Mr. Show fame and shot in a cool handycam sort of cinematography. Small cameo's by David Cross, Jack Black, and Odenkirk round out a short, but enjoyable film.

Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind was freaking really good. It's about Gong! Show creator Chuck Barris and his double-life as a CIA assassin. Based on the actual memoirs of the real Chuck Barris, this George Clooney directed movie has all the twists and turns of your average spy movie and with the love of humor of a romantic-comedy. Julia Roberts and Drew Barrymore round out the cast, although Barrymore pretty much played the same character that she's been in her last couple of movies. Sam Rockwell, who plays Barris, is cool as hell. He wins the new “I-can-make-any-outfit-no-matter-how-strange-look-cool” award, or is at least in a tie with Brad Pitt for it. Check it out eh.

Tomorrow night is Henry Rollins at the House Of Blues. I can't wait, although it sucks that I have to drive all the way back from Cape Canaveral to go, and then drive back out there to work at 4:30 AM Sunday. Oh well, all good things are worth sacrifices aren't they.

Ok, gotta do some schoolwork, gotta get a haircut, and I gotta stop drinking so much coffee.

Oh, and Bush is an idiot. I hope he falls down a flight of stairs. Uh, I didn't say that.

“Smoke pellet!” *POOF*

22 Jan 04 Toon-irific comedy for the caustic sole….uh…soul….

I'm tired from work, sort of, and I've got some movies to watch. So I leave you with some toons for now.

Catch you all later. Mucho Amore'.