Death, and Other Happy Things

I wanted to post something on Thanksgiving day, but I got distracted and didn't get around to it. Perhaps there was a reason behind that, because Yesterday Paul Walker, star of the Fast & Furious films (next to Vin Diesel) has died - rather ironically - in a car accident (What? Too, soon? - look, I'd rather laugh in the face of death than treat it like it's something that we can never talk about).

September 12, 1973 - November 30, 2013 (40 years old)

I'll be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Walker outside of the F&F films. They were his masterpieces, his acting chops shown through in them, as much as they could. Needless to say, Walker will be missed and considering they are still filming Fast & Furious 7, it's a wonder as to what they are going to do with his character and how they are going to write him out - don't you dare recast, or I will find you  Vin, and I will get my ass kicked by you - but I will still come after you. Don't doubt me!

In other, less serious death related news, Brian Griffin died on Family Guy, and the internet is up in flames about it. Me, I'm not pissed about it, I kind of figure that he'll be back before the end of the season, possibly even before mid-season. But as for now, Brian is dead, and the world is very sad for whatever reason.

I keep forgetting that Family Guy started back in '99 - it's the few years where they were cancelled that keeps throwing me off

My guess is that he'll be back by the Christmas episode in a few weeks. I also hate Vinny, mostly because he is "replacing" Brian, my favorite character, but also because the character is just weak, he has nothing special about him other than the fact that he's Italian - which honestly makes him more annoying than special, because he isn't the awesome mafia boss Italian.

Look I don't have a problem with Italians, he's just an over-the-top characterization of every Italian stereotype, we are almost told, "Hey viewer, you see this character that we replaced Brian with, there's nothing redeemable to his character, you aren't supposed to like him." But maybe that's just my speculation.

In other news, I saw The Hunger Games: Catching Fire this past weekend. That movie has quite a few deaths in it - to continue the somewhat grim topic this blog post seems to be all about. It was definitely better made than the first film, which utilized shaky cam to the umpteenth degree. So here's a mini review:

Based on the second book in Suzanne Collins' series, Catching Fire, deals with the aftermath of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark's victory in the 74th annual Hunger Games, as well as the 75th annual Hunger Games, and also sets up what is to come in the third and fourth films, based on the third book, Mockingjay.

The 75th Hunger Games, or the third Quarter Quell of the games were held in a different manner than the prior games shown, and even more different than the previous two Quarter Quell's. Previous victors of the games were now reaped for the games, meaning that district twelve only had Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch, who is drawn, but then replaced by Peeta when he volunteers himself as tribute.

Unlike the 74th games, these games have no victor, as the stadium is destroyed by Katniss and then the plot of the final two films is revealed. As previously mentioned the film is much better made, it's a solid film, the action is easy to follow, well, easier. There's still your typical action movie quick cuts that make it a little difficult for those not used to this trend to follow. The performances are also a lot stronger this time around, especially from Peeta, who did very little in the first and actually stepped his game up. Jennifer Lawrence was, as always, strong and not much can be said about her acting chops that hasn't already been said.

There isn't that much fancy camera work, or anything, the quality of the film is all really centered on the performances, nothing really special is with the camera or lighting to amaze. All of that being said:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire gets an 8.5/10 - Because it is that good.

I'm not about to get into the things, and "controversies" surrounding the film. Where one half is praising the way it is treating sexuality and gender, while the other half is saying it isn't doing enough. Honestly, the movie is giving exactly what its source material can give, and it's doing it justice, and to me that is all that matters.

So Thanksgiving came and went, I don't know if I understand Thanksgiving or not, in the holiday sense, and why we even need a day to say what the hell we are thankful for. As if we couldn't do that any other day of the week, month, year. We need one day to do this, and we choose a day where we brought plague and famine to the new world, good choice.

I'm also writing this during the mid season of The Walking Dead, why do they insist on changing so goddamn much? I understand that it's different, but seriously, this is not the way this shit went down in the comics, unless this keeps going and it kind of levels itself out. But seriously Rick's group DESTROYS, literally, De-fucking-stroys, the Governors invasion. And here they are losing to The Governor - who is supposed to... never mind, Michonne got him did I mention spoilers? Sorry, spoilers, you should know this about me, this is stream of consciousness after all. But thank God they are at the end of the Prison era, and we can move on to bigger and better things, Like Neegan. Also, Rick need to lose his hand, and Carl needs to get shot in the eye, all of this needs to happen. But the hand thing isn't going to happen unless they make Neegan do it, the Governor was supposed to do it in his first confrontation with Rick, but no, we can't have similarities now can we. Tyresse won't die here, it's Hershall, Neegan won't kill Glenn, he'll kill Tyreese or some nobody that people don't care about. Andrea won't be a total bad-ass, because that wouldn't be right. No, I will not let this go, they ruined my favorite character from the comics.

So back to Thanksgiving. The only thing I am thankful for *cue mushy music* is my lovely girlfriend, whom I am waiting for right now. She's still on her way back to the college and it's 10:03 right now, and I don't care what time it is when she gets here, I am going to see her tonight.

See, J-Law understands

I don't have much of anything else to talk about, so here - have a video - next time is the final part of "a brief history of my life." That should be up by the end of the week, time permitting. Farewell.

A Brief History of my Life - Part 2

Part two of "A Brief History of my Life" is finally here, and part three is only a month away. The sad thing is, I don't know where exactly to start. I guess I'll go right to the things I missed in part one.

The things I missed:

1. My Brother, Brandon.
2. My atheistic conversion.
3. My World of Warcraft career beginning.

Starting with point one. My brother died before I was born, just a few days after his birth. It's led to me questioning everything about life in general and what we are doing in this planet. This whole event that I wasn't even around for, but am reminded of every year, has led to parts of my experiences with depression, and caused me to question my convictions and the meaning of life.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything.

What do I actually think the meaning of life is? To put it bluntly, to exist. To fluff it up, to better your "life" and the lives of those you care about. I feel as though this is everyone's meaning to life though, it's the general answer that everyone gives, or that most people agree upon.

I'm not entirely sure how I missed my atheistic conversion in part one. Probably because it was in a grey area of age where I'm not entirely sure exactly how old I was when I stopped believing completely. I've narrowed it down to somewhere between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. I still remember the day I told my mom that I don't believe in God. I can't remember what day it was, but we were just at my Grandparents and we were driving home. She made some comment about God's involvement in something, if I recall correctly, my cousin was in a car accident, the vehicle was totaled and he walked away with a few scrapes and bruises. I just responded, "God had nothing to do with his being alright." I got the typical "How could you say something like that." Of course, me, being the recently converted atheist with an agenda told her there is no God, and the only reason my cousin wasn't injured worse that crash is because the car fell in just the right way as to not injure him, any different and things would have been worse. I couldn't have let bygone's be bygones. She looked at me, with what appeared to be a mixture of rage and confusion, I wasn't sure what to think - I didn't know how badly atheists were vilified at the time, hell, I didn't even know the term atheist, I just know I wasn't a believer anymore.

Lastly, the summer between middle school and high school I picked up and started playing World of Warcraft, which would practically control my life for nearly seven year. Do I regret it? No, not for a second. I met some great people in the game, well I "met" some great people, and some of them still bother to keep in relative touch. I stopped playing the game last year, a month or so after the release of Mists of Pandaria and reaching level 90 on one of my characters and realizing I wasn't having any fun with the game at all. I mean, to be fair I had spent seven years playing the same damn game practically every day of my life, with a few month breaks here and there.

I miss those days, the Wrath of the Lich King days, where I joined this guild, only for the guild to splinter off and become a founding member of the guild I would stick with for the majority of my remaining time in the game. That's where I met my favorite people, but now that I don't play WoW I still have the need to role play, so eventually I'll be starting a D&D campaign. Likely using Roll20.net.

But now on wards to High School. The greatest four years of my life. Or so they were said to be. When High School rolled around, I had already fallen away from half of my middle school friends, and was no longer hanging out with them in my free time any more. I don't regret that either, there isn't much that I regret, there are things I regret, but more on that shortly. 

I do wish that I made stronger bonds with some of my actual friends though. there's only three people from my High School that I am actually able to communicate with on a regular basis without feeling weird about it. I kind of wish there were more people I were able to talk with, just so it wouldn't feel weird to talk with them. That's one of the few areas that college has really helped with, my ability to transcend awkwardness and talk to people. But when there's only five or six people that I can actually call my friends in this world with straight-up confidence I feel as though somehow I'm lacking, despite the fact that I feel that that is how it is with most people. We tend to keep to are small circles and don't really break out into other circles unless jettisoned into them like in situations such as college.

By the way, if any High Schoolers are reading this, and you go anywhere other than a community college, High School does not prepare you for college - and College I hear does not prepare you for any forms of higher education, most even say it doesn't prepare you for the "real world."

I've always been an English nerd. I've loved writing reading, understanding the English language (though admittedly my grasp on sentence structure is no where near perfect - and I'm not super good with word play). Just the English language though, nothing else. The language just fascinates me, how it's so damn complicated, it's the hardest language to learn, and yet we insist we are superior because we speak English. As if speaking anything other than English made someone somehow inferior. I'm a weak individual, I can't win most physical fights, that's not opinion, it's fact - but I speak English, so by the logic of English superiority, some big Mexican guy stands no chance against my scrawny figure because I have the power of English.

My tangents are fun for me to write, but I have no idea how fun they are to actually read. But anyways, I've always preferred my English classes to my other classes. I've always had a mathematical mind and did well in math as well, but English classes were my home away from home. Then I went to college and discovered Film Studies, but that's part three stuff, lets not get carried away. My favorite teacher of all time was, you guessed it, an English teacher, my Junior year English teacher, whom I believe was let go in my Freshman year of college, along with all the other brilliant people teaching at the school. She wrote one of my recommendation letters, along with the greatest math teacher in the history of math teachers. If either of you are reading this somewhere down the line, I just want to say thank you for all that you've taught me, your'e amazing people.

Is this just a personal turn-on?

I started writing stories when I was a little kid, however I just don't have the ability to finish a single thing I start. I don't know what it is exactly. If it's some sort of inferiority complex I have, or just a serious lack of attention to what I'm writing. Perhaps once I get out there in that real world I keep bringing up I'll be able to finish something.

I guess if I had to choose one thing that I regret the most from High School it would be not spending as much time as possible with my friend who passed away this past summer.

My tribute tattoo to him.

That is the RC Cola logo yes. His initials were not RC, but he did sign my yearbook senior year, on the last day of school as "RC Cola." And that was the last time I saw him, and now three and a half years later, I'll never be able to see him again. So I've immortalized him in the way he was, the way I'll remember him, the way he'll never be forgotten. Twenty one years old. Fuck.

I guess that's where my feelings about everything comes from. You meet the people that dont deserve the things that happen to them, and still these things happen to them and there's no justfying it. One could claim it was God's test that he died, but God's test for who? Certainly not the victim.

It would seem as though the test would be for the victims loved ones, but how much sense does that actually make? Did God really decide to kill a friend of mine just to test the faith of others? What kind of justification is there for that. The "mysterious ways" argument has no real backing, Hell, I work in mysterious ways. There's no omni-benevolence in that, if anything, its malicious.

Don't misunderstand me, I don't hate God, I can't possibly hate God. I do however hate the religion, all religions, they lead people astray from the "truth" giving them a false confidence in the impossible. I get that some cope with trauma through religion, and that's all fine and dandy, but again its all false promises. People live their lives devoting them to their choice of poison. They believe things they cannot possibly know, just on the grounds that if it's true they reap the benefits. Some people even believe in fear of what may happen if they're wrong. It's heart breaking for me, and for them, how I live my life is heart breaking. At least the atheism aspect of it.

It's ironic though, because my first tattoo was a Celtic Cross and some words in Latin on my forearm.

The whole thing took roughly four hours to finish, and cost $240. I've been asked a few times if it has to do with my religious beliefs, and every time I respectfully tell them it's a heritage thing. The words aequitas and veritas mean justice and truth respectively. The words are most known for their existence in the Boondock Saints films.

One of the main things I regret about High School was my general inability to tell people, especially females, my feelings for and about them. I became somewhat of a shut in prior to High School and mostly kept to myself. There's a few girls who I'll admit I had some strong feelings for, but my insecurities kept me from asking them out, or even telling them anything emotional. 

But ultimately I regret nothing about High School. I may claim to regret things, but that isn't entirely true. The regrets, the pitfalls, everything that went down in my formative years, and everything that will happen in the coming years, has and will shape the person I am and will become.

So yes, despite my qualms with my past, it all amounts up to who and what I am, if I were to regret that, I would regret myself. I don't, and if I did I give you, faithful reader, permission to hit me square across the face. 

Blog's over homies. Watch the video, in honor of seeing Thor: The Dark World tonight, the video is "Everything Wrong with Thor." I'll see you next time.

Remember, Remember

The fifth of November.

It's November fifth, clearly, and that means a few things. I am going to watch V for Vendetta later, It's Guy Faukes Day, and I am officially 21 and a half. That last one is totally reliant on my birthday being May fifth, but it gives me more reason to enjoy the fifth of November. Also, today saw the release of Eminem's new, and apparently last album, Marshall Mathers LP 2 (I've only gotten through half of it, but I love it), as well as the release of Call of Duty: Ghosts which I couldn't possibly care less about. I seriously have no ambition to play the game, especially after watching TB's "WTF is..." on the multiplayer aspect of the game, which, let's be honest is the only reason to play a Call of Duty game (click within the parentheses for the video).

*Here's another video, where he gives some corrections on his WTF is... video : Look Mom, I'm clickable*

I have to say that I am sympathetic to the Call of Duty player. I understand you, I used to be you, I just don't know how you still exist. Call of Duty stopped being good, or rather legitimate after Modern Warfare 2, it fell into mediocrity mid Black Ops. I don't know what it is about Infinity Ward, if it's just their ego, or laziness, or whatever, but I just don't get how this can pass as a "next-gen" game. You just have to look at Battlefield 4 (to use the war game comparison- but any next gen game will do to be completely fair, hell, even most current gen games will do) to see that this isn't acceptable. It just so happens that he also did a "WTF is..." of BF4 as well (pew pew). His BF4 video is longer than both of his Ghosts' videos, but it's worth it, at least just to see the comparison between the two games.

I've decided that there is one thing I will not allow to happen in this town home. That is the playing of any game available on a next gen console, on a current gen console. 

Because, Adventure Time.

For the Jon Stewart fans... and because he looks like he's masturbating.

Because, Alexander Skarsgård. Does there need to be another reason? Look, just accept the homoeroticism,  it isn't going anywhere.

If this happens I may be forced to take drastic measures, such as scratching CD's or taking hammers to things that hammers should not be taken to. I may not even permit Ghosts being played without serious ridicule, because if you are willing to pay sixty dollars for a game you already have, that looks worse than games that came out years ago, you deserve the ridicule.

Oh shit, Sons of Anarchy, be back in an hour or so (because let's be honest now, this is going to be a ninety minute episode). But just because I have to state it, Tonight's episode is entitled John 8:32, which for those unfamiliar with their Bible, this is the verse: "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free," it's one of the few I have memorized. Hey, I'm an atheist, you can't expect me to know the whole thing. So the proverbial shit is about to hit the fan.

I have thirty minutes to finish this post.

All I will do, for the rest of this post, is talk about Sons of Anarchy, and what an amazing episode this was. Like I assumed, this was the episode where all of the dirty deeds that have been going on, came out. A few other things came out of this episode too, from some characters who will likely only be in this episode. The bi-polar girl for example, was in my opinion the best part of the whole thing, Clay's monologue about the benevolent Pussy aside. Next weeks episode is going to be an insane fallout, and I cannot wait. This season may solidify Sons of Anarchy as a show in my top five shows of all time. here's how that list currently stands (Keep in mind, I have yet to have seen Madmen, The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Weeds, Spartacus, many other noteworthy shows, if it isn't on the list and you feel it should be, let me know in the comments and I'll tell you if I've seen it or not):

5. Archer

4. Boardwalk Empire

3. Arrested Development

2. Game of Thrones

1. Breaking Bad

Sons is currently sitting comfortably in the number 6 slot. It's just a few episodes away from taking fifth place. But come Winter Break, when I will be watching The Soprano's and The Wire, and likely, other shows as well, it may not hold. I may need to throw up a top 10 list just to keep half the shows on this list, on this list. Also, remember dicks, this is personal opinion, and I still haven't seen a lot of shows - yes, I do watch a lot of things - A LOT OF THINGS - but, they all cannot be in the top five, unless I cop out and place like six shows in a tie in each spot. That's just riddikulus.

So, this episode of Sons was the set up for the drama of the remaining four episodes of the season. It was the closing of the first story line, and the start of the second. This is how you do a proper story arc, I'm looking at you The Bridge (no, I will not let this go, they had four main story lines, in one season, four! And that's not even counting the side character stories no one gives a shit about that don't even connect to the main story). I don't think I have to explain why Sons of Anarchy is one of the greatest shows on television, and if I have to, I still won't explain it. Instead, I will say, that seasons one through five are on Netflix, and then I will tell you to figure it out for yourself.

But seriously, this was the best episode of the show, in it's six season run. The fact that there is only one season left fills me with both joy and great sadness. Nothing saddens me more, than the ending of an amazing show, especially when it's too early. The fact that Sons hasn't outstayed it's welcome and has gotten better over time leaves me with great optimism for its conclusion. If Breaking Bad can teach us anything about television, it's how to wrap up a show in a pretty little bow. The only difference here is that there's five (six if you count the "final episodes" as it's own season and not the second half of season five) seasons of Breaking Bad, and what will be seven seasons of Sons. Or to put it in episode count, Sons will end at an approximate total of 92 while Breaking Bad capped off at 62, giving Sons thirty more episodes to work with, granted it doesn't have that many loose ends to tie up.

Blog's over, finished at 11:59 boom. Still November 5. To celebrate this achievement, have a 40 minute video about Jesse Cox and his wonderfulness.

***Oh noes, the labels put me over midnight, damn you labels, you have failed me***

Insert Title Here

So last night I went to go see Ender's Game. While I thoroughly enjoyed the film, it's from a standpoint of having no knowledge of the book, or books, it was based on - so I cannot testify to how good the adaptation was. I can however say this. There was a person whom my suite mate and I came across on the walk back that said they did a terrible job condensing the book. While a person on my facebook page, claims they did a fantastic job condensing the book. The former claimed the book to be his "all time favorite," while the latter admits to disliking the author. I would take the first persons qualms with the movie as personal bias, when the term "all time favorite" is used, you step into something with pre-concieved notions of how good something is going to be, and when you don't get what you expected you come out disliking, or hating even, the movie. It's why I don't walk into movies expecting a "proper" adaptation of my favorite books and story-lines. I actually didn't hate this "piece of crap."

I did however hate this literal piece of crap.

I do mean literal, in a figurative sort of way. You may see a movie poster, and there may actually be one there, but all I see is a giant steaming pile of shit. Let's consult Dr. Ian Malcolm.

So back to that Ender's Game movie. I'll admit that the movie had some pacing issues, at least to me, my suite mate didn't catch it. But let's be honest here, he isn't quite the cinephile I am. The plot seemed to advance forward too quickly for me to buy into it, it didn't seem like time was passing all that much, despite the fact that time may have been moving forward a great deal. Being that the movie was set in space, on a space station while all of the characters stay the same age, so it isn't like years, maybe months. I guess I just don't buy that a kid, let alone, anyone is able to rise through military ranks as fast as Ender did, I didn't understand the universe, nor the necessity to do so, especially considering that the enemy posed no immediate threat. There was no reason for Ender to rise through the ranks so quickly

I'm writing this while watching The To Do List. I am tempted to stop writing, so I can focus on the movie, I just started watching it, I love Aubrey Plaza, and it takes place in the summer of '93 when I was 1. The next words I write will be written ninety minutes later.

So, it actually took like three hours. That's the only downside to streaming movies, the loading speed and whether or not you'll have to restart the video is totally random and will occasionally lead to a 103 minute movie taking three to four hours to watch. So I'm watching RollPlay now, I'm like two weeks behind still so that's six grueling hours I have to get through at some point. Anyways. Ender's Game. 

Pacing issues aside, the movie was great. Don't misunderstand me I, in no way, hated the film. I just didn't buy it's seemingly short timeline. There was this whole countdown thing that happened that said like twenty eight days, or something like that. So the whole movie seems to have been about a month or so in time. Maybe like six weeks actually, not the aforementioned months. Also, I wanted more Ben Kingsley, his character was important in the movie universe's lore, yet he has maybe twenty minutes of screen time, if that. Let alone he had the best character, next to Asa Butterfield's (great name) performance as Ender.

Asa is one of my favorite young actors, he was Hugo in Hugo, and Bruno in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The former is such a heart-warmingly great film, the latter such a dark and depressing film. I can't help but admire his talent, he's only fifteen (April 1, 1997). To be honest, the cast from top to bottom was great, in the "larger" roles. "Larger" being in quotes because not many characters had more than twenty lines. Hell, I don't even think Ben Kingsley had more than twenty lines. I'm not talking a Ryan Gosling in Drive sort of thing where not having that many lines is a good thing. I'm talking the film had so many characters and such a short screen time that some of the characters had like ten lines a pop, when they should have had more. I'm just nitpicking now, because this really isn't an issue.

Hailee Steinfeld as always is amazing, despite her not having that big of a role, it actually felt reduced, I can't help but admire what she is able to do in such a "minor" role. I'm also glad that they left out the typical "first kiss" scene, despite both actors being fifteen, the characters didn't seem to be at that point yet, and a kiss would have felt way too forced with the given narrative of the film. Hell, I'm pretty sure Ender and Petra are only supposed to be twelve though. Something I just realized about the Romeo and Juliet remake, the new one with miss Steinfeld, is the age difference between her and Douglas Booth who play's Romeo.

Hailee Steinfeld and Douglas Booth Romeo and Juliet (2013)

He was born in 1992, same year as me. He's at least 21, possibly even 22 - IMDB only gives the year. She's fifteen. That's a six to seven year difference. And given the fact that the film was likely shot last year, she was more than likely 14 at the time, and he 20 or 21. It's just off-putting. I didn't even realize she was that young until just now. Granted, in the play Juliet is only 13, and Romeo isn't given an age, I've always assumed him to be older - 17 or 18, but maybe that's just me, I've seen some people even say early twenties.

Time period wise, it makes sense, but make some liberties with your adaptations. That's the one thing Romeo + Juliet (1996) did right in the casting. they cast actors not necessarily close to the same age, but look the same age - Leonardo DiCaprio (1974), and Claire Danes (1979). Making them 22/23 and 16/17 respectively. It's a bit less of an age gap. But it's not so overt.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes Romeo + Juliet (1996)

I feel like I've turned into an old man. All crotchety about girls being too young for this shit. Look, I don't mind it, I actually liked the remake more than Romeo + Juliet. Claire Dane's is still untouchable, and the only real reason I liked the remake more was Steinfeld and Damien Lewis, not to mention the modern retelling of the 1996 version. Modernizing Shakespeare does not work in the hands of anyone other than Joss Whedon (see Much Ado About Nothing (2013)).

The best Romeo and Juliet, aside from the play (which isn't even that good - yeah, I said it), is still the 1968 version.

Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey Romeo and Juliet (1968)

One thing I will say though, is that Halie Steinfelf and Douglas Booth look surprisingly similar to the two in the '68 adaptation of the film. As a lover of all things Shakespeare, the way the '68 adaptation treated the source material was my preferred method of adaptation, especially for this particular play. However as Whedon has shown us, it is possible to modernize while treating the source material with the respect it deserves. Though my hatred of Romeo + Juliet, may have just been due to my disliking of the play itself, I still consider it one of Shakespeare's weaker works, and I don't understand why it is the one that has gotten seven adaptations, and according to IMDB an eight "video" starring Kel Mitchell apparently, and an upcoming ninth adaptation in 2014, Romeo and Juliet in Harlem. 

This upcoming adaptation apparently modernizes it, and stays true to the language of the play. I wonder if they can stay true to that. The writer, who is also the director Aleta Chappelle, is also retelling Macbeth, in the same year. That however, is entitled Macbett. Macbett, like Romeo and Juliet in Harlem, will star a seemingly entire African American cast, in the traditional "white" roles. Needless, to say, I'm interested in what she is able to do, now I just have to play they waiting game.

Okay, so it's like 11 PM, I just got my Calzone - Three Little Pigs (ham, bacon, and hot dog with american cheese and side of BBQ sauce - it's delicious). So I'm going to eat and wait for Saturday Night Live to start in about twenty minutes. Here, have a video.

A litte while ago, I posted ASDF movie 1-6, ASDF movie 7 was just recently uploaded, enjoy.

SHOWS!

I don't know if you know this, but I watch a lot of television.

It's a bit of a not so well kept secret. A while a go, about a week and a half, I started Arrow on Netflix. Simply put, the show is...

Hair twirling and all, you know, if my hair were still long enough to twirl. I can kind of twirl its current length, but I look ridiculous. Yes, I did it in a mirror to see just how ridiculous I looked doing so. Granted, I've only seen the first four episodes now, having just watched the other three before stopping to watch Revolution, and the other shows that I am now bedeviled with the misfortune of watching. Not because they are bad shows, no, but because there are so damn many of them that I watch that it has become a nuisance, and I can't seem to stop picking shows up. I even have this "amazing" plan to watch The Sopranos, Deadwood, and The Wire over winter break - not necessarily in that order.

Revolution is hitting all of my feels right now. It's not fair for shows to be doing this to me. There's like four story lines all going on at once, merging into one solitary story, and while its interesting, the things they be doing, be heartbreaking. However, if it's anything like episode one, it may not be as heartbreaking in like four minutes, unless this time the character is actually dead, for the long term at least. Not everyone can be saved by magic brain controlled robotic fireflies. At least not in the same episode they die in.

But God, this episode had me all:

Darn character development. It gets you sometimes. I am however glad there isn't a new episode of Modern Family tonight. It allows me to write more of this while I wait for Super Fun Night. Then I'll catch South Park and Key & Peele, the rerun of American Horror Story: Coven, and @Midnight, then maybe Conan and The Pete Holmes Show, but I may just stop watching the show and just watch YouTube clips. I prefer the latter. But what I will be doing, as soon as they are posted to the inter-web, is watch Survivor, The Tomorrow People, Misfits, The Ultimate Fighter, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and The League. And that my dear readers, is my Wednesday night.

In other news, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag came out today. So guess what this guy is doing. I call it "Operation Spoiler Aversion," OSA for short. Because I have decided to wait until November 15th to get the game along with my PlayStation 4 as opposed to paying an additional ten dollars to upgrade the game to the PS4 version, which I am assuming would in turn require me to restart the campaign, which is something I would much rather not do. So please, if you have spoilers, don't spoiler it, cause I'll be sad, very sad. Then I will be mad, slightly mad.

But seriously, OSA has like, never worked before, so I really need it to this time, because Assassin's Creed is a beloved franchise of mine, and I just don't know what I would do with myself if the story was ruined for me. I, unlike most people, did not hate ACIII. I will say that it was the weakest. But there are far worse games to get your panties in a bunch over. *cough* Literally any Call of Duty game. *cough*

Seriously though, have you seen Ghosts, have you really seen Ghosts and are not just buying into the ridiculous hype no game could ever hope to live up to? The game looks like crap, which isn't new for a call of duty game after Modern Warfare 2, they all fell into the "samey" look with reused textures and just plain terrible quality. But Ghosts and I'm talking the next gen versions of the game, look worse, literally worse, than some of the games I've already played on my PS3. Here, let me just show you one reason as to why this game is terrible, and they're just throwing things out there to make a quick sixty bones.

For some reason, the text on the left is cut off, it's supposed to read "random ass sunshafts."

Allow me to explain what is wrong with this, for the people that don't know what is wrong with this. Ignoring the bad resolution of the picture, as it is re-sized, but seriously, where the hell are those sunshafts coming from? The Sun, is right there, in the (near) center of the picture, yet there are shafts coming in from the left. Sorry to break it to you people, but unless this takes place on another planet, or the Earth develops a second Sun in this game, this image is quite literally impossible. Unless there is a building just off screen that is for some reason, pointing its spotlight into the forest during the day. Or, mirrors, I guess. They either, don't know how sunshafts work, or they don't care, or even more likely, they just do not give a fuck about what they put out there.

Granted, I am aware that a lot of companies do not actually care, about their product and the consumer, and they are only interested in the money. It is all about the money after all.

That guy, he's just balancing money on his head, while pretending to be in an elevator.

Holy crap this episode of South Park is amazing, just that line "you don't know what it's like to be a baby going through puberty" is so damn fantastically ridiculous that its absolute perfection. While South Park has lost my "best animated show" award to Archer. I cannot deny the brilliancy and consistency in episode quality South Park has had, and it doesn't appear to be about to falter either. Holy shit, they are comparing Yo Gabba Gabba to Miley Cyrus. I cannot believe how amazing this is.

So, Pre-Registration for classes begins Monday, I already have my registration key, so I may or may not be able to pre-register online. Regardless actual registration is the 12th at 6 AM. I should however, based on my desired schedule being comprised of classes I am able to pre-register for. So by November 4, I should be all registered for my final semester. Then I can walk on out into society, and die a slow painful death like the rest of society.

Pessimism rules though, it's much better than optimism, and a little less annoying. I'm actually more of a realist, maybe a pessimistic realist. However, I consider the glass to be either half empty or half full. Actually, I want to have some fun with this so let me explain how I look at the cup. I consider the glass to be half empty if the glass was full of a beverage which has been drank. the glass is half full, when the glass had no liquid and then had liquid added to it. So if it is being drank, half empty. Getting filled, half full.

I'm not sure when I'll be back, but sometime next week. A Brief History of my Life Part 2. Be prepared. Here, have some, and by some, I mean a lot of movie trailers. I'm off to watch American Horror Story Asylum.

A Brief History of My Life - Part One

A few years ago, my Sophomore year of college, I wrote a personal essay all in stream of consciousness that briefly gave the story of my life up to that point. I wasn't sure what really to do with this blog when I first got the idea to start it, what I wanted it to be, how I wanted it to go. And when I decided to just make it a look into my life, I figured at some point I would have to do a basic re-write of that essay that is so poorly written. Then I went and looked at that essay, and I realized that there was so much that I left out, and still the thing was rather long. The longest personal essay I have written, and I'm kind of embarrassed by it. It reads like crap. I cannot believe that just two years ago I didn't know how to properly form a sentence. I still have tense issues, and I make the occasional mistake, but God this was horrid.

In the spirit of this blog, and what it means to me, I have decided to do the re-write of this "old" essay in three parts. My early years, up through Middle School will be recapped here in part one. The second post will tackle High School, and the final part will be up to where I am at now, my senior year of college. I wouldn't expect the final part until this semester is over mid December. Part Two may be posted by either the end of the month or in early November before the launch of the Play Station 4. So, let's get this bitch started.

I began the original essay by diving into my self diagnosed depression, I've never been medically diagnosed as depressed. But from all my readings on depression, and the fact that I have tried to kill myself quite a few times when I was younger, I feel as though I can safely say I was depressed. Actually I don't think it's fair to say I was, depression isn't something you get over, it's more like something you learn to live with. I still hate getting out of bed most days, and the only way I'm able to do so most times is by writing, reading, or watching some sort of visual media. Classes also tend to motivate me to get out of bed, but on the weekends, it's one of the former three.

I grew up without my father really being in my life. I do plan on one day heading down to Florida to meet the family we left behind twenty years ago, but that's a story for another time. I'd like to say there was a definitive cause for the depression. I wish I could pin it on something, so that I know exactly why I hated myself, and still kind of do. There was not real, traumatic cause, I wasn't beaten or raped, I was however constantly made fun of.

I was never the cool kid, I never fit in with that crowd. I was short, overweight, and weak. Hell, I still am. So needless to say I took my studies more seriously than the average kid my age, even more than my close network of friends, which really, until about high school was four people, and even now it's somewhere around six.

I spent my pre-grade school years in a town called corning, with no real friends that I can remember. The only real thing I can remember was that I broke both my left wrist (for the first time) and my collar bone during my time there. That, and that I was attacked by some bees, that was fun. I broke my wrist when I was around five years old by falling off the top of a slide. And my collar bone was broken when some older kid ran into me while he was playing basketball, I blacked out after he hit me, and woke up either in the hospital or nurses office being taken care of. As you can probably guess, my bones weren't (and probably still aren't) very strong.

Somewhere along the line, before I started the first grade even, my mom met a guy who lived in a town called Clifton Springs, which is where I now currently reside when I'm not in Brockport for college. I don't recall for how many years we lived in the trailer park with him. I want to say it was three or four years, possibly even up through the fifth grade, but he was my first real father figure. He was your a typical male, or at least that's how I remembered him, he seems different now whenever I see him, but I remember him as a much more masculine man. But perhaps that was just my childhood naivete and the fact that I was not a very masculine boy and wasn't used to a man in my life whatsoever.

Eventually, stuff happened that I have no real recollection of, I want to say that he apparently didn't want the responsibility of taking care of a kid any more and we moved out. We moved into an apartment complex near the outskirts of the town and there we stayed until I went off to college. It was here at this apartment complex where I met the man who I consider to be the closest thing to a father figure I've ever had. He was one of our neighbors and one of the nicest persons (is that how you say it? God, how do I still not know how to speak English perfectly) I've ever met.

I love and respect him to death, and whether or not he reads this I want it to be said. I'm not the best with starting conversations with people, or keeping in touch with them, the way I was treated in school by my peers has made me a socially awkward mess, incapable of starting a serious conversation with anyone. I am quite capable of doing the small talk thing, with anyone, but if anything "real" needs to be discussed,

Anyway, he has been planning a move out of state with his daughter and his fiancé for quite some time now. I just want it to be said, in hopes that he will read this some day, that he's been like a father to me. And despite the fact that I haven't seen him in forever, something like two years now, I will miss the shit out of him. Maybe some day, I'll learn how to talk to people, I'll get his address and go visit him.

So back to the school stuff. Honestly, I don't recall the bullying every getting physical aside from a few times. There was never a black eye, busted lip, or bloody nose. But definitely people would assert their obvious physical dominance over me. In other words, it was more verbal bullying. It made me hate myself, the way I looked, how tall I was, how smart I was, practically everything about myself, and once you hate yourself, you never won't. The thing is, I know I'm over weight (slightly mind you, about 15 pounds), and I hate that, but I have no ambition, literally no ambition to do something about it. I'm not sure why exactly I don't have the ambition, I believe it stems from the idea that I just really don't care anymore. But anyways, back to my youth.

The depression, or whatever it was, if you don't want to take my word for it, led me to have a short temper, that I have since groomed into a slightly larger temper. But that short fuse I used to have caused me to break my hand on another kids face in what I recall to be the seventh grade. Now I realize that I've skipped breaking my wrist for the second time in the fourth grade and shattering my elbow between fifth and sixth grade. Yep, I fell on a cement block located in the playground behind the apartment complex. My elbow looked something like this, after just a few minutes, the funny thing is that one of my neighbors said to just put ice on it.

That's a nice purse. I ended up needing surgery, and now I have a sexy scar. Okay, it's not that sexy, but it is a scar, so that's a plus.

So, that's the scar there, on my elbow. And yes ladies, that's my room. That X there on my forearm is part of my "xXx" tattoo referring to my straightedge lifestyle. I have more tattoo's, but those will be discussed in the coming parts. Back to me breaking my hand on another kids face. Yeah, that happened.

He took my glasses off, and threw them across the cafeteria. So in a blind rage I punched him, a lot, a broke my hand. Hurting me a lot more than I hurt him. And that was basically the only "fight" I was in. Wait no, there was this other time where one of my friends hit me with his backpack, and then I knocked him down and knee'd him while he was down a few times. But to be fair, I asked the back-pack attack. I keep getting ahead of myself, that one was in high school. 

Nothing more really happened in my middle school years, aside from getting my cat Smokey, and starting to fall out of a few strong friendships. A few of my friends got into drugs, nothing serious, just alcohol and marijuana. You know the drug that should be legal because it does less harm to your body than cigarettes, and certain strings of the plant can actually do more help than harm. That's neither here nor there, but it's funny when you think about it a straight edge pro the legalization of pot. Personally I still won't smoke it, but not only would it stimulate the economy, it'd make a lot of people more mellow and happy, or maybe a bit paranoid.

I still keep in touch with the majority of them, though one appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth. To back track once again so I can say where my love for movies came from. My mom used to work at a local video store in Clifton (actually it was in Phelps, which is right next to Clifton), and she would often take me to work with her. Now you know where the cinephile in me was born. She worked there until a few years into middle school if I remember correctly, after which the place went out of business and she took up a job at the Big M in Clifton, which is currently in the process of going out of business. Moral of the story, my mom runs places out of business.

That's about all I can tell you about those years. So here's a video to tie you over for a few days. Tomorrow night I'm watching Prisoners, because it is actually the midnight movie, I've already purchased my ticket, so there's no backing out now.