So I went to the coffee shop to do some homework like a good boy. But I left my book at home. And there was a lady singing and playing guitar. So I stayed and drew a thing. In OneNote.
When I woke up today, I thought to myself 'Self, do you know what we need more of in this world? Accessories made from decapitated doll heads. Decapitated doll heads decorated with glitter and something that looks like the top of a blouse from 1986. On plastic cords. That's what we need.'
Well, thank god there's Etsy! There's a snip behind the cut for those of you who don't want to add to the view count or who do want to be spared from the PARAGRAPH OF CAPS that is the listing.
Now I don't doubt that this took alot of time and energy and she is a gorgeous talented woman..but well, this still kinda looks like actual shit to me.
It was with heavy heart that I never made it to Cedar Point this past summer. It was on my things-to-do wish list but hey, with what they charge for admission, it just wasn't gonna happen. My last visit was in July of '06, so the only significant ride that I've missed since then has been Maverick.
They've recently released information on the new ride for the 2010 season. It's called Shoot the Rapids and will be a log flume in the fashion of the old Mill Race and White Water Landing, both of which have long since been removed. The ride will feature two lift hills both ending in splash basins and have a couple of waterfalls that the cars ride under, which essentially take the defining features of both Snake River Falls and Thunder Canyon, respectively. There's also an animation:
Interestingly, Cedar Point already had a ride called Shoot the Rapids, which operated from 1968 to 1981. It was a low-thrill log flume that was located where White Water Landing would later be built (and where Maverick stands today). The new one looks a lot more exciting.
I'm really not a big fan of water rides. I used to be, way back in the early years of youthful frolic, but nowadays they just don't hold much appeal. I don't get off on sloshing around the park soaking wet, so Shoot the Rapids is one that I suspect I'll sit out on. When we go I'll be the one who will watch your shoes.
I’ve been on this Wes Anderson kick the last couple days – in order, Life Aquatic, Darjeeling Limited, Royal Tanenbaums – and topped it off with the non-Anderson Brothers Bloom.
And then I fell for Bang Bang.
And then I drew a picture.
I feel so dirty. So.. so DeviantArt. What is wrong with me?!
LIMITED TIME ONLY INTRODUCING MY NEW LINE FOR FALL SPECIAL INTRO PRICE
ONE OF A KIND PIECE OF ART
BIBS ARE ALL THE RAGE!!!!!!!
GET INTO STYLE WITH THIS BIBB!!
This bold statement necklace has LOTS of vintage rhinestones and vintage findings for add texture and interest including 2 vintage rhinestone buttons. You will find this neck piece will be a lovely addition to your wardrobe as it will go through the seasons to compliment any outfit. Ties in the back with black ribbon.
Convo me for shipping outside USA
Convo me with questions or requests. Thanks for looking!!!!!!!!!!!!
Been really busy overall lately. Mishu came up for a week last week, and was in SD hunting with some family the week before. It was great to see him and we cooked some of the pheasant he shot! It tasted pretty good, though it was a very flavorful dish that we cooked so I don't quite know the full taste of pheasant yet. :) I started working out again tonight. I did the beginning workout for the EASports Wii Active game. It's part of a 30 day challenge that they have on the game. So far from what I can see, it's two days on, one day off, so we will see how this goes. I just need to get active again so that I can start doing some of the heavier stuff, like working out for a good amount of time on my Gazelle or on a stationary bike. I want to lose weight and I want to gain strength and stamina. :) I'll update as I go... :D
Yeah, I know, it's fashion. Still, I could totally wear a SACK by cutting out the bottom and some little slit for my eye! Look at me, teacher! I'm so creative! NOT!
Last night we watched a trio of movies that included a Russian vampire drama, Night Watch. I didn't care a whole lot for the movie, whose story I felt was simply all over the place and the content less than gripping. There were a lot of elements in the movie that didn't work for me, based wholly on my interests, thoughts, and personality. That is the core of who I am. I am the sum of my experiences, beliefs, hobbies, and persona -- all aspects which have been carefully crafted over the past twenty-eight years and form the basis of my entire internal existence. It's all very philosophical and all, which is frankly a bit of a bore, but these conditions create the network of my interests in the world around me. In short, I like some things and I dislike others.
Everybody has lived their own individual lives. I know most of you very well and quite personally. I can say, without fear of being proven wrong, that I have lived a very different life from Felicity. I have lived a very different life from Charles. I have lived a very different like from Katie. I have lived a very different life from Ian, or Dan, or Mike, or Laura, or Ryan, or any of the other six-billion people living in the world at this instant. I have, despite proximity for so long, lived a very different life from my brother and sister, or my parents and relatives. I have lived the life I have lived, for better or for worse, because my interests have taken me down different paths and created a different personality to match. I am not Felicity, or Charles, or Katie, or my siblings. I am who I am, with all the mistakes and accidents, successes and chances, that have developed my personality into what it is. I cannot apologize for that.
That's all elementary psychology and is perhaps not so important. Moving on.
I did not think much of Night Watch. I personally think that should be fair and should be able to stand on its own as my own personal opinion. It's not me trying to tell others that they are foolish for enjoying the movie, or that they should hold themselves to higher standards. I never said any such thing because I don't believe that. All I did was say that I found the movie boring and convoluted, a belief that I hold by myself and myself only. Everybody is free and capable of appreciating the movie in whatever ways they like and will see worth in it based on their finely-honed personalities that I waxed on about in previous paragraphs. You are allowed to love this movie for all it's worth. I am allowed to be less than impressed.
Why was I unimpressed? It's simple. The elements that made up Night Watch's story were not elements that I had a whole lot of vested interest in. I am not big on the supernatural and I am not a fan of fantasy. To me Lord of the Rings was extraordinarily boring and unlikely. I don't believe at all in the existence in elves, nor do I care about elven creatures in the slightest, so their quest to save a fake historic Earth just did not mesh with my interests and attention. I could show Pandora's Box or The Magnificent Seven, both astounding movies in my opinion, and some of you will yawn your way through their lengths because you don't care about the situations and scenarios involved.
This happens a lot. Recall that I also found the new Star Trek to be a load of hype and nonsense while everybody else came home and had to change their pants. Star Trek was idiotic. Yet some people love it more than their own children. How is this? Is there something wrong with me?
The fact is that the new Star Trek simply cannot please everyone. Nothing can please everyone. This is life. I was displeased by Star Trek because I found less to be impressed with than others did. I have different standards and expectations that have to be met in order to win my approval than other people do. Yet, there are still others who hated Star Trek with a passion that even I cannot rationalize, since I will concede that it was still a fun movie despite a hole-ridden plot, terrible design ethos, and atrocious science. But that is neither here nor there. We're not discussing Star Trek again, or Night Watch for that matter.
Allow me to list my top five favorite movies of all time, okay? They are Metropolis, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Lawrence of Arabia, and My Fair Lady. I've seen all of these time and again and whole-heartedly vouch for any and all of them. I consider them the paragon of cinema. Now consider your own top-five list. I guarantee that it will be different. In fact, I know they will be different because I asked you last year.
I know not all of my movies will be a hit with everyone. Katie will dismiss Metropolis and The Passion of Joan of Arc outright for being silents. Felicity probably won't think much of Lawrence of Arabia. Laura would shoot down My Fair Lady for being a musical. Only Charles would possibly be up for all of them and, even then, he wouldn't completely agree with me on how good or bad they are. Likewise, all of you will have different opinions of my top five based on what you have come to look for in movies. That is how we work and that is all fine, that's great. It's why I had all of you fill out the genre preferences sheet, to provide you a better array of choices on movie days.
We are all unique. We are all individuals. We all like things that others hate and hate things that others like. That is the nature of being so wonderfully intelligent and diverse.
It's not fair to gang up and trash on me because Night Watch didn't interest me. Just because I'm in the minority on this one doesn't make my opinion any less valid. Just accept it and move on. At the same time, rejoice that we are different people with different interests. That's why we're friends, because our differences give us something to talk about. If we agreed on everything then that would make awfully boring conversation.
In other words, we're not part of an autonomous collective. We're too smart for that.
Our first attempt at a Halloween-themed movie day two weeks ago was the Pre-Halloween Horror Film Day, a week prior to the big day, and didn't quite pan out as one might hope. The turnout was slim, consisting only of Dan, Paul, Charles, Carla, and myself, and the movies limited to a mere two titles: Onibaba and Event Horizon. Halloween therefore came and went without a proper spooky movie day to celebrate it.
We rectified this shortcoming this weekend with our Post-Halloween Horror Film Day, which came out better on all counts. This time our guest list consisted of myself, Charles, Carla, Felicity, Katie, Mike, Ryan, and Dan -- altogether a not too shabby group of people. Our movies consisted of a trio of eclectic choices.
We began with Vampyr (dir. Carl Th. Dreyer, 1932, Germany), a film that Charles and I have watchedseveral times already and were interested in other peoples' opinions on. Like I've said time and again, it's a difficult movie that really requires more than one viewing, but it's worthwhile. Its hero, Allan Gray, is pretty much useless and the story just kind of does its own thing, so the viewer winds up scratching their head several times before the end.
Vampyr fascinates me. It was a difficult film for Dreyer to make, coming at a difficult transition in his life -- not only from silent to sound cinema but also between nervous breakdowns and hardship in finding backers to fund his pictures. So this was a very touch-and-go period for him and, since Dreyer is one of my favorite directors, I'm generally attracted to sussing out the mystery of Vampyr and its troubled background. One of these days I would love to sit down and type out a grand essay on deciphering the film (at least as much as I've been able to) and what I think of it. I've been trying to get my friends to watch it so I can hear their opinions and perspectives on the film. Tonight was Charles' fourth or fifth go at it and Dan, Katie, Felicity, and Carla have each seen it once. I was pleased that they seemed to not hate it.
However, Vampyr did not consume the entire day and we moved on to other movies. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (dir. Tobe Hooper, 1974, USA) followed, which was finally on the right track with this sort of marathon. There isn't much to say about this classic other than it's more creepy than horrific and is, at its heart, the heartwarming tale of a family that stays together through thick and thin. So it has that terrifying sense of unity overcoming obstacles. Awwwww.
The third film was Night Watch (dir. Timur Bekmambetov, 2004, Russia). It was a sort of good vs. evil, light vs. dark, vampire doomsday agents sort of thing. I don't know. Apparently I was the only one who didn't really get into this one. I thought it was plodding and overly complicated and that its story just contained far too many elements that just didn't work. The plot included a mishmash of ideas that included -- and was not limited to -- people shape-shifting into tigers and from owls, some sort of universe-destroying vortex, massive swarms of crows, a spider wearing a doll's head, an airplane perpetually in distress, exploding power plants, overcooked sausages, vampire-hunting agents, a disoriented kid, blood drinking, medieval warfare, supernatural battles, mirrors reflecting invisible people, and a fight that involved an unbreakable fluorescent light against a spinal column sword. I'm pretty capable of suspending disbelief in movies, but this was all too much. None of it made any sense. So no, this one wasn't up my alley.
After Night Watch we took a field trip to Meijer. Katie did the preposterous by doing actual shopping while the rest of us raised a ruckus in the toy aisles. Our job complete we returned to Camp Josh where only Mike and Felicity remained to make Baby (no longer Baby Skullhead) feel utterly unloved. All Baby wants is friendship, and they made it quite clear that they are far too prissy to open up their hearts. What jerks.
So that was how this past evening went down. Next weekend remains open and unscheduled, free to be filled however. Stay tuned for that.
this stuff has got to stop! I'm glad I don't have kids, that way I never have to deal with them coming home in this shit! www.etsy.com/view_listing.php
Does anyone else think it ironic/stupid that they have super-skinny models (or mannequins) showing off jumpsuits DESIGNED to make your ass and thighs look huge?
I love Swarovskis...but not when they're wasted on this piece of heinously overpriced crap. D: (Eleven grand?? Srsly?)
Also "great for staying warm at your favorite sporting event". Shouldn't there be an added "and getting the shit beat out of you in the parking lot after the game" tacked on for good measure?
Since the Pre-Halloween Horror Film Day that we held a week 'n a half ago came up a little short, Chuck and I have opted to offer a followup. Post-Halloween Horror Film Day will be in the exact same format, only held a week after Halloween rather than a week before it.
This gives you another chance to watch scary films with us and I won't feel like I have to put away the Halloween decorations downstairs. So it's basically win-win for everyone. Especially me, because I am lazy.
Post-Halloween Horror Film Day will be Saturday, November 7 beginning at 4:00 PM. Feel free to bring as many horror/thriller/generally unnerving movies as you'd like to contribute.
Since I'm still cameraless I don't have anything of my own to show for last night's Halloween party. Luckily Kim snagged a pair of photos of my costume.
I decided to go with "generic mad scientist" this year. Clearly it's not Dr. Horrible and if I wanted to go as Dr. Horrible then I would have bought costume pieces that matched Dr. Horrible's. They're not hard to find. Dr. Horrible was a good series but I had no intention of going as Dr. Horrible so NO, I did not go as Dr. Horrible. There have been mad scientists before there was a Dr. Horrible.
I feel the need to clarify because the impression that I got last night was that nobody knows about mad scientists that are not played by Neil Patrick Harris anymore. I'm saddened that I need to emphasize that.
Not that there's anything wrong with Neil Patrick Harris. NPH <3 4eva.
Drawing In my new tabletbook thing. I cannot wait for something to be fixed so this thing can have pressure sensitivity. How did people draw back then? Back before the Wacoms. Adjusting brush dimension by hand.
Oh, you want to move the canvas? Go over there, select the moving canvas tool, adjust and then grab the brush again. Hungry? Here, crack open this Tyrannodon egg and make an omlette in your giant stone pan.
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nauseated.
cocky.
amused.
sleepy.
thankful.
bouncy.
tired.
cranky.
tired.
cold.
sad.
fine.
frustrated.
