Do Not Resuscitate

Racism and Movies and Television

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:37:01 GMT

Everyone is racist. It's when you notice the differences. I am a little pale ginger girl. I look different from someone who is Indian, or Nepali, or Japanese. This is fact (barring things like immigrants. It's possible to have a white Chinese person if that persons parents had them whil ethey were living in China and that person is raised as a Chinese person. This happens, sure, but we're going general). Even within "white" and "black" there are racial differences. Is a Nigerian the same as a person from the Congo, or a Swede the same as a German? No.

The moral of thi story is that the world is a fucking diverse place. This is great. This keeps the human species from being stagnant. This keeps life interesting. This breeds xenophobia and racism.

Neither xenophobia nor racism is inherently wrong. Both derive from an instinctual self-preservation, which would include preservation of our communities. They arise when an outside force or an "other" is perceived as invading, whether the invasion is active and violent or passive and just immigration, cultural assimilation and the like. This changes the community. Change can be bad. It can lead to the destruction of your people (ala American Indians). Racism towards "white" and colonials on the part of native americans would have been justified. European invaders saw this continent as being "virgin soil" for the taking, as opposed to being inhabited by some 90 million people, including civilizations in the anthropological definition. Racism towards black people ro African on the part of white people is not justified, because contemporarily it's a bunch of bullshit and historically they were not invaders, they were the invaded. They were the taken, the spirited away to a continent that centuries later would still hold them generally in contempt.

So what the fuck does this have to do with movies and television?

Honestly, a whole fucking lot.

We all know the "token" racial characters. Token of South Park comes to mind as an example of the industry reminding people of this problem.

Think of television. If a tv show has black characters, they are either part of a larger cast like Leverage, Criminal Minds, CSI, and the like, or are secondary characters to main characters, such as in Supernatural, etc. Recently three shows that I watch killed off or wrote off every black character (LOST, Heroes [which later brought back one mixed race character, Micah], and Supernatural). Of these shows, two of them have characters of other races (Heroes: Mohinder, Hiro, etc.; LOST: Jin, Sun, Miles, etc.). But if we look at TV which has central characters are any of them black? As in, in a show like Supernatural or Life on Mars, the main characters are white. On TV where main characters are black race becomes a main theme. In fact, the only shows that star black main characters in recent years that I can think of (and please, tell me if there are more) are the Bernie Mac Show (RIP, Bernie) and Everybody Hates Chris. Both perfectly great and funny shows, sure, but both are black comedians who've gotten shows, instead of black actors cast as main characters on shows.

The easy answer is just that they just find the best actor they can and cast them. Sure, whatever. So, what, there just aren't any good black actors? Bullshit. They're all over the place. There are BAD black actors too, but that happens. Why couldn't the Winchesters have been black? The Closer? Buffy or Angel (also another issue, though, since Buffy was cast as a blond white girl BECAUSE of the trope of blond white girls in horror)? And then, in Angel, when we get a black character, he's from the streets. Which is another trope we see all the time. And I can't say it's necessarily BAD--that was Gunn's character. But that's all wrapped up in this issue. Why SHOULD Gunn's character have been a black kid from the streets?

And then movies. Race cinema. Third cinema. Foreign cinema. But then we get to Hollywood and it becomes a big deal when there aren't white actors. Slumdog Millionaire? Great movie, sure, I loved it. But Bollywood, India, produces about 900 movies a year, over Hollywood's 610 in 2008. In the 90's there was an average of over 4000 movies produced each year. About 450 of those would get a US release, and about 225 of them were registered with MPAA (US made movies). So Hollywood? Doesn't really produce that many movies, comperably. And non-western countries make the majority. And have since the 60s. So why are we only NOW forming ties with these places?

In Hollywood movies themselves race is equally troubling as TV for me. Avatar has been cast, and is grossly white or random ethnicities that simply fulfil a sort of exotic quota for villains or random characters, as pposed to the VERY culturally sound cartoon, where the countries had influences and bases in actual countries. The Water Tribe drew a lot of influence from Inuit cultures, and we get two white actors to play Sokka and Katara. The Fire Nation was based on historical Japan, and we get an Indian born English actor (who, don't get me wrong, I adore. Dev Patel is both cute and hot and a great actor). The Fire Lord? A Maori. It's as though, in casting, they just said, well, it doesn't matter who we cast as long as some of them aren't white. That's diversity, right? The problem with this is that it shows a lack of love for the themes and cultures presented in the show, as well as a lack of understanding what fans love about it. We don't have problems with characters being WHITE or INDIAN but with the fact that they're IGNORING the style of the SHOW, and the world it presented.

But back to racism. Tyler Perry. Great writer, fairly okay filmmaker. Makes movies about black people. And guess what? No one goes to see them in the town where I live. They make bank everywhere else, but in my little white town of Boulder, no one cares. Why? Does my whitewashed audience not identify with these stories or characters? Bullshit. If they saw these movies they would. Do we just not hear about them? Possible. They don't get advertized as much here. But it's not like it's a surprise when they're released.

So this isn't a problem just with the studios and producers and directors, but with the spectator and viewership. This is a problem with society. That no one even really notices these things. Or if, when it happens, it's a big deal. Disney's upcoming traditionally animated version of the Frog Princess comes to mind. Guess what, Disney? It's great you have an African American princess. Guess the fuck what? It's Two Thousand Fucking Nine. The civil rights movement was fifty years ago. You're not the embodiment of social progress, you're an example of the fact that America still needs to realize that it's not the paradigm of tolerance, acceptance, and goodness. i would almost say the race issue now could be more troubling than before--because people have started to ignore, started to not see it, started to accept the way things are now as the way things should be.

I am not an advocate of affirmative action. I don't think black actors or non-white actor should be cast for the sake of having diversity. I'm just saying there's a problem. There's a problem, and no one even notices, or says it's not there, or says I'm racist for noticing.

Well so what? Everyone's racist. At least I'm thinking about it.

Survivalist.

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:26:55 GMT

After watching Jericho now all I want to do is become a survivalist not because I think the world is gonig to end any time soon but because I want to be cool enough to have a fully stocked bomb shelter. So, you know, WHEN the world ends everyone can look to me for brooding, smokin' hot leadership.

Also, added to the sexy beast list is Skeet Ulrich. Who has the weirdest pseudonym evahr. Which makes him even more hot.

Okay, so maybe I just want to be a survivalist because I want to be as cool as Jake Green. SO what. You wont laugh in my face when I'm the only one with food and a radiation-proof basement. Suckers.

I Shot a Gun and I Liked It.

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:36:54 GMT

Yeah, so my pal Josh is home for a while from Australia, and Thursday night he, his Australian friend Alan and I went to see the Spirit (Lame with a side of stupid. Also, Nazis.), and then he was like, "hey, wanna go shoot a gun?" and I was all, (in my brains [thoughtspeak]), "Hhhmmm, me with a firearm. Does this sound like a good idea? Even a little?" and my outside voice said, "sure!" so off we went to the firing range.

The gun was a .45 automatic. And it was pretty. I like guns, I cannot lie. I think they look cool. I think that fictional portrayals of guns are cool.

But let me say that i think that firing a gun at a person, or at any living thing, is not something I could do, nor is it something I can imagine other people WANTING to do. Self defense is one thing. Whatev, we all want to live. But then I think of things like wars and murders and gangs and drive-bys and explosives and atomic weapons and nuclear bombs and dirty bombs and land mines and cannons and EVERYTHING and HOW CAN ANYONE THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA? Seriously? I cannot understand war culture. I understand that, yes, watching things like sheds explode is fun. Knowing that what exploded the shed was created for the sole purpose of killing other peple? What the HELL humanity, why the fuck do you suck so hard?

So i got to shoot a clip at a stump and actually hit the thing. The kick is so weird. firing a gun is so weird. I was expecting things like pellet guns and no, it was a real gun, ear plugs and everything. They are so NOT a bang. BANG does not describe the sound even a little.

I know I don't want to own a gun right now. I am good with my pocket knife. And machete.

But really, I cannot undertand mankind's need to kill each other. It's like biologic instincts gone horribly wrong. We don't have to fight for food. We should be smarter than to fight over religion. Humankind needs a swift kick in the arse. No one wins a war. No one ever wins anything. The only outcome of life is death, so why does everyone seem so intent on shortening everyone else's lives for no real reason? Or for reasons that stopped making sense thousands of years ago? We've been in an arms race since the first hominid realized a rock could crush his rival's skull.

At what point do we become advanced enough to put the rock down?

50 Resolutions for the Year Two Thousand and Nine

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:37:58 GMT

So there's this community on LJ that is for people to make 101 resolutions to complete in 1001 days, but that's a long time, I think, so I am going to make 50 Resolutions to complete in the year 2009. Every time one is completed I will delete it from this list.

1. Don't procrastinate.
2. Save 3 thousand dollars by the end of the year.
3. Don't kill my plants.
4. Finish ARTA.
5. Write DNR.
6. Finish Afterworlds.
7. Read all the books in my to-read pile.
8. Watch all the films on my to-watch list.
9. Watch the geminids or any other meteor shower.
10. Reread my first year Japanese text.
11. Finish one photoshop picture a month.
12. Study for the GRE's.
13. Take the GRE's.
14. Look into grad schools.
15. Learn how to meditate.
16. Write my screenplay.
17. Keep up with my dream journal.
18. Upgrade my wardrobe.
19. Learn to cook period.
20. Fill my recipe book with at least 20 recipes.
21. Work out 3x per week.
22. Swim a 10 minute mile.
23. Clean out my car.
24. Use Skype.
25. Find something to believe in.

Edit:

Finished Fabio's drawing, fired 2 guns, uploaded all my vid files to YouTube (though last semesters are still not transferred to vid file. They don't count.), applied for Sundance, folded 1,000 paper cranes,cut hair and donated to locks for love, submitted to BFD, taxes, got new guitar strings, got another 4.0, living arrangements, I not only learned how to tune my guitar AND learned one goddamn song so far on it, I wrote the goddamn song (with my sister). So there. And I did something else on the list before I started keeping track. I think I am not a trichitillomaniac any more. I stayed up all night 3 times.

Failed: did not finish my Excavation project, mainly because I don't think the event will ever happen, so I see no need to. I am also bad at not being surly, mainly because everyone else is bad at NOT BEING FUCKING ANNOYING ALL THE FUCKING TIME. I should just accept the fact that I am a surly, surly person. Also, didn't save 2,ooo dollars due to my purchase of a camera, toonboom, and some other things. 2,000 by the end of the summer, 3,000 by the end of the year is the new goal. I am on the internet a lot. I don't see this changing. Didn't finish Booth's picture and he quit.

I may have found something to believe in. Is survivalism something to believe in? It'll give me something to strive for, anyway.

I'm halfway done. I don't think I'll be doing a lot of these, like the GRE's I'm holding off until next year, as with grad school.

It's Two Thousand and Nine Years Since Some Crazy Cultist Was Born

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:06:44 GMT

How do you feel about that?

I feel pretty damn good about it. I wish the past year had been better for the word but it was personally one of my favorite years just for me and my family.

So here's to '09. You're looking to be big.

And I'm not even a little hung over.

Christmas Haul!

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:27:16 GMT

A Pocket knife from my brother
Surf's Up and a Twilight villains shirt (the COOl vampires) from my sister
A frame and photos from my stepsister, so gorgeous
A winter hat with headphones in it from my uncles (which is awesome!)
From my dad: lots of money, this awesome sweatery thing, and really cool slippers, PLUS he made us all bracelets! Really mad them. They are so cool!
From this white elephant gift exchange thing we do I got Sea Monkeys, seriously FTW
From my stepdad my sister and I got a stuffed animal My Little Pony as a joke--he got it from a Christmas Party.
From my awesome roomie I got assorted cookies. So yummy.
From my mom, who loves Christmas shopping and discovered the art of getting things on sale from Amazon.com: The Illusion of Life (a Disne Animation techniques textbook! :D), Planet Earth, The Land Before Time, Avatar season 3, and Dead Man, plus a cookbook, socks, a scarf, a box of Finding Nemo fruit snacks, a pair of earings
And from my grandparents and godmother a total of 175$.

My family gives a lot! It was a very fun year. We all got stuffed with food, and had a great time, and no one even mentioned church.

GRADES!

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:16:05 GMT

I don't have a full set yet, but so far, all A's! Including in a class I was completely sure would be a B at the most, Extraterrestrial Life, considering that it was so heavily a science course and, well, my brain likes philospphy, abstracts and imaginary friends. So WHOOT! I could have a 4.0 for the semester, which could give me a GPA of 3.9! Intense! So here's hoping. I'm thinking my AMAZING research paper had something to do with it. Because, dude, it was amazing. I swear.

Also, in case I don't post between now and then, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Everyone being astropixie and kuronikko, really, because i think you two are my only friends here....:D Which is cool. YOu two are my favs anyways!

I Hate Being At Home

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:09:12 GMT

Does this happen to everyone else, too?

I am having a very hard time not just going back to my apartment. I cannot stand being around my family for more than like, a night. I love them, sure, but holy shit do I hate spending time with them. Why oh why did I think it was a good idea to come home? Especially for two nights?

Is this just because when you live on your own, away from them, you get used to not being around their irksomeness, so when you get back it's just that much worse?

I can't wait until I live way further away than just 40 minutes so I have a much better excuse to visit maybe once a year. I really need to get away from here.

^___________________________________^

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:26:37 GMT

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Eight Things

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:59:44 GMT

The task? List eight things about yourself that maybe people don't know about you.

This is me in list form.

1. I am lost, and that's where I like to be.
2. If you ever see me looking deep in thought, or staring off into the distance, know that it is only because I'm searching for something that can't ever be found.
3. I think life is much more interesting if we assume that there is no God and nothing happens for a reason. Because then it only has the reasons we give it.
4. I have an obsession with the idea of death. What happens before, during and after. The final frontier.
5. I have an obsession with the idea of life. What makes a life "worthwhile?" How can someone "waste their life?" What is life? When is life? For what is life?
6. I wish I cared more.
7. I want to run away. Go underground. Fall off the grid. Out of range, on my own, I wish I would just give in to my wanderlust and leave this house, city, state, country, continent, planet, solar system, galaxy, universe.
8. I don't need anyone.

Twilight

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:51:42 GMT

So, I hate them I hate them so much. Here's why:

Bella. She sucks so hardcore it isn't even funny.

Edward. I've never read a more emo, stupid, angst-ful vampire. It's so pathetic.

Okay, so I'm not being entirely fair. I really enjoyed reading them. I have liked some of the characters, and every once in a while I won't hate Bella and Edward as much. Rarely. Perhaps I dislike them for the same reasons I dislike watching romance movies, and reading romance novels--because that's what Twilight is, a campy, stupid romance novel wrapped up in a *sparkly* vampiric wrapping. These vampires suck. Seriously. But we're talknig about the romance. I mean, really, wtf? So the only reason Edward "loves" Bella is because her blood calls to him. Great, fine, he's a vampire. How special for stupid, emo Edward that his blood-mate (since he doesn't think he has a soul, they can't be soulmates) moves right to the town he's staying in with his "family." I have no problem with his family. In fact, I like quite a few of them. Just not Edward. I almost started to like Rosalie when she almost got Edward killed, at the end of New Moon, but then he lived and I didn't like her any more.

So why do I hate the romance? Because it's stupid. It honestly reads like the make-believe story of a five year old with her Barbie and Ken dolls. "Oh, I love you! But how could we POSSIBLY be together? You are a human! I want to eat you!" "Oh, Edward, I love you so much, never ever leave me, kill me, please, so we can be together ALWAYS and supply endless sequels filled with page after page of mush!" And that's basically all I can get from any interaction between Bella and Edward. Meyer really drives her romantic plot points home. She has probably, in just the first two books, found every way one can say "I can't live without you" as is possible.

I suppose, having never been in love, I can't relate to this relationship. I can't imagine being so dependent on someone's existence that I would kill myself if they died, mostly because, if you truly love someone, I would think that you would NOT kill yourself because of them. I mean, say you get to heaven. You're like, okay, great, now I just have to wait for everyone else to get here! But NO! St. Peter ambles along minutes later and tells you the love of your life committed suicide, and is now in Hell. Now, it's eternity apart.

Not that I'm at all christian. I don't believe in heaven. But if you died, would you want your loved ones to kill themselves because of it? It's just such a stupid notion to me. All it says, to me, is that you don't love that person. YOu just loved the feeling you got from being around them. If you really loved them, you'd live for them.

So yeah, Edward pissed me off. Plus, he is a woman. I don't mean this in a bad way--guys are fully allowed to have feelings and express them. The problem is, I believe, that Meyer just does not understand the differences between sexes. She also writes people into social stereotypes. For example, Jacob and his friends, Quil and Embry or whatever? Bella makes a statement that only people with Y chromosomes understand car-talk. Which is so thoroughly ridiculous I can't even handle it--I had to get a beer after that.

Also, the vampires, the lovely sparkly, rich, high society people are all white. The werewolves? The hairy beasts? Indians. I can't tell if she's making a statement that Indians, werewolves, are closer to the "Earth", in tune with it, that they become animals or if she really thinks that white folks should be the high class vamps and only Indians should be werewolves. I haven't read the next two books, but so far there aren't any female werewolves, too. Which I find stupid. Also, the female vamps? Pansy-assed motherfuckers. Alice? She just kind of stands there all the time. Any time Bella needs protecting, which is, well, all the time, since she's a useless bag of retarded meat, it's a man. Edward. Jacob. Charlie, Jasper, Carlisle. Seriously? Meyer? Are the only strong people men? Because it seems to me that, whoa, vampires are pretty fucking strong. I think the girls can handle some kick-ass action.

Bella is useless. She's either whnging about Edward being gone, or standing behind him while he "protects" her. Grow a fucking spine, Bella. You're really just going to stand there, not speaking up for yourself, not doing ANYTHING, while the big strong men take care of you? Way to break from societal cages, Meyer. You're doing the female gender a world of good.

Not.

And please, tell me why guys fall for Bella. If you can be ugly, short, stand-offish, rude, flippant, depressed, and ignore all your fiends, yet they STILL all want to date you? Please tell me how. Seriously. In what world does it happen that the creep fuckwad new girl gets the "perfectly sculpted statuesque vampire?" At least Buffy was believably attractive. She had spunk, she had style, she was smart, funny, she kicked ass. That's why she got the guys. If Buffy had been meek, unattractive, whiney, and stupid like Bella you bet your ass no one would be dating her, much less building motorcycles for her.

And another thing...sense? get some. Why would an airline staff speak in french over an intercom just before landing in Rome? No sense. That's like speaking in Polish before landing in Mongolia.

I can't imagine being friends with someone as utterly selfish and shallow as Bella in real life, and I find her insipid and uninteresting. Much more interesting would be Jasper. or Jacob. You know, one of those people who's ACTUALLY going through something traumatic?

I just can't feel sympathetic towards her. She does not have a bad life. And sure, okay, I want to be a vampire too. But it's an abstract thing. How can she look at how difficult it is for the family of vamps she purports to be friends with, and not see how difficult it is to them? How she's asking the guy she supposedly loves to basically kill her? How can she just wave off his feelings, just because she wants to be foreveryoung?

Oh, and Meyer? Please. Edward's been around for more than a hundred years? Character development, please. Why does he still act like a teenager if he's supposed to have so many years of life experience.

I just can't get over how much these books bother me. The only shining light was while Edward was gone and Jacob was still human.

I disapprove of Bella/Jacob romance. Seriously, Jake, get out while you can. She's really, really not worth your time. She's beneath you.

I really need to go watch the Lost Boys to get the stench of emo-vamps away. Fucking stupid angstful teen romance.

The Trapeze Swinger

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:20:21 GMT

By the rose bush laughing with
Bruises on my chin
The time when
We counted every black car passing your house
Beneath the hill,
And up until
Someone caught us in the kitchen
With maps; a mountain range, a piggy bank
A vision to remove dimension.

But please remember me fondly,
I heard from someone you're still pretty,
And then they went on to say
That the Pearly Gates
Has some eloquent graffiti
Like 'We will meet again,'
And 'Fuck the Man,'
And 'Tell my mother not to worry,'
And they greet us with their great handshakes,
But always done in such a hurry.

And please remember me at Halloween
Making fools of all the neighbors
Our faces painted white
By midnight
We had forgotten one another,
And when the morning came
I was ashamed,
Only now it seems so silly
That seasons left the world,
And then returned
But now you are lit up by the city.

So please remember me mistakenly
In the window of the tallest tower
Calling passers by,
But much too high
To see the empty road at happy hour
Glean and resonate
Just like the Gates
Around the Holy Kingdom
With words like 'Lost and Found,'
And 'Don't look down,'
And 'Someone save temptation.'

And please remember me as in the dream
We had as rug-burned babies
Upon the fallen trees,
And fast asleep
Beside the lions and the ladies
That call you what you like, And even might
Give a gift for your behavior
A fleeting chance to see
A trapeze swinger high as any savior.

But please remember me, my misery,
And how it lost me all I wanted
Those dogs that loved the rain,
And chasing trains
The colored birds above their running
In circles around the well,
And where it spells on the wall behind Saint Peter
So bright on cinder gray
In spray paint
'Who the Hell can see Forever?'

And please remember me seldomly
In the car behind the carvival
My hand between your knees
You turned from me
Said the trapeze act was wonderful,
But never meant to last
It clouds the past
Saw me just come up with anger
When it filled the circus dogs
The parking lot had an element of danger.

So please remember me finally
In all my uphill clawing
My dear
But if I make
The Pearly Gates
I'll do my best to make a drawing
of God and Lucifer,
A boy and girl,
And angel kissing on a sinner,
A monkey and a man,
A marching band,
All around the frightened trapeze swinger....

This one's for the ghosts.

Auntie Annie's Guide For Not Being A Stupid Customer

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:01:43 GMT

1. You are not special. You are not unique. You are one of probably hundreds that the employee has seen that day.

2. You do not deserve exceptions. You are no more important than anyone else.

3. Know what you want before you waste time at a register.

4. Be patient. Employees are not slaves, and you are not entitled to anything. You are both just human beings.

5. Don't hold up a line if you are clueless or don't know what you want.

6. Don't loiter in areas where people need to walk, like doorways or in front of lines.

7. The customer is hardly ever right. That's you.

8. Pay attention. Be aware of where you are and what you are doing.

9. Don't circumvent lines/queues. Not even if you have been served before, need a refund, etc. Wait in line like everyone else.

10. If you have a complaint or need a refund, be polite. Being disgruntled is not an excuse for being an asshole, even if it is the employee's fault.

11. If something is wrong, tell the staff! They would love to fix it, IF THEY CAN! But again, be polite! They are more likely to help out a nice person than a bitchy, mean one.

12. If you are bitchy and mean, do not expect anything special to happen for your complaint. In fact, expect the opposite.

13. If you think of a joke about anything in the store, don't share it with the employees. They have, guaranteed, heard it a thousand times before, and that forced laugh you hear is actually them experiencing pain.

14. If something is against policy for the employee, do not argue with them or try to fanagle a different outcome. If the employee gave it to you, they could lose their job. And I can guarantee that you are never worth someone else's job.

15. Smiling is not good customer service. Just because an empoyee does not contort their face into "happiness" when you enter the store does not mean that they are rude. It does not mean that they are angry, or incompetant. It just means that they are not smiling. Get over yourselves.

16. If you look young, like below 25, bring your ID to rated R movies. If you are 16 and under, bring a parent to see the movie with you. I don't care if you tell the employee you are 22. A 15 year old can do that, too. Same goes for cigarrettes, etc.

17. Don't throw your money at the employee at the register. That is not polite.

18. If you are talking on your cell phone you should not even wait in the line. Or hang up when you get to the register. If you don't, you are a terrible person. You are not paying attention.

Zombies And The Art Of Survival

Fri, 30 May 2008 23:56:46 GMT

So I just read World War Z. Now I fear zombies will appear and take over the world like moaning energizer bunnies of doom.

The worst part of this is that I'm in Wisconsin, where my family has two cottages on two seperate lakes, and now I'll be afraid to swim at either one for fear of zombies walking around on the bottom just waiting for a swimmer to dangle their foot too deeply whilst treading water (while they trod water? Can you trod water? Trod on water? Tread on water?).

Zombies are the scariest of the fictional, supernatural killers in horror stories. Not the pansy, girly zombie in Supernatural ("Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, Season Two episode something or other), or those fast buggers in 28 Days Later that aren't actually zombies just wacked out wackos, or the ones in Resident Evil (that are the closest to Max Brooks style creepy as all hell zombies), I mean those moaning, never stop coming, bite you and you're infected and DEAD kind o' zombies. Friggin' scary.

Max Brooks is a genius. It was like reading The Things They Carried, only instead of being loosely based on actual events it's all fiction and has as much weight and depth to it. The characters...the way he wrote it...it's spectacular.

But oh man, zombies.

Grocery List

Wed, 26 Dec 2007 04:01:24 GMT

DVD's to buy:
Chuck
Dinosaur
Dollhouse
The Fall
Into The Wild
Pushing Daisies S2
Shaun of the Dead
Shuttle
Slumdog Millionaire
Sunshine
Trainspotting
WALL-E
Wristcutters: A Love Story
The Boondock Saints
District 9
Gamer

Movies to See:
Dr. Strangelove
The War At Home--Madison '68
Sophie's Choice
Layer Cake
About A Boy
Mystic River
Rear Window
The Triplets of Belleville
True Vinyl
HARVEY
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
THE SEARCHERS
HIGH NOON
SHANE
UNFORGIVEN
RED RIVER
THE WILD BUNCH
BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
McCABE & MRS. MILLER
STAGECOACH
CAT BALLOU
LAURA
THE THIRD MAN
THE MALTESE FALCON
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
BLUE VELVET
DIAL M FOR MURDER
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
ANATOMY OF A MURDER
IN COLD BLOOD
A CRY IN THE DARK
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
BEN-HUR
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
REDS
STOLEN DESIRE
NISHI GINZA STATION
ENDLESS DESIRE
MY SECOND BROTHER
PIGS AND BATTLESHIPS
THE INSECT WOMAN
INTENTIONS OF MURDER
THE PORNOGRAPHERS: INTRODUCTION TO ANTHROPOLOGY
A MAN VANISHES
THE PROFOUND DESIRE OF THE GODS
A HISTORY OF POST-WAR JAPAN AS TOLD BY A BAR HOSTESS
KARAYUKI-SAN, THE MAKING OF A PROSTITUTE
VENGEANCE IS MINE
EIJANAIKA
THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA
ZEGEN
BLACK RAIN
THE EEL
DR. AKAGI
WARM WATER UNDER A RED BRIDGE
The World According To Garp
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Sunrise
The Syrian Bride
Homunculous
Stigmata
Lust Caution
Southland Tales
The Cat People
Los Angeles Plays Itself
The Last Laugh
Le Trou
Blood of a Poet
Short Bus
Satan Tango
Army of Shadows
City of God
Run Lola Run
The Day After
Threads
The War Game
The Newton Boys
Off the Map
Don't Come Knocking
Touch
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
4th Wall
Tears of the Black Tiger
The Aftermath
After Sundown
All Souls Day
Army of Darkness
City of the Living Dead
The Evil Dead
Land of the Dead
Quarantine
Slither
American Zombie
Marisol
The White Tiger--Aravind Adiga
Kung Fu Hustle
Shaolin Soccer
20 Years Later
Fail-Safe
Mad max
Manhattan
Wings of Desire
City of God--Citada de Deus
The Golem
Jacob's Ladder
The General--Keaton
Persona
Psycho
9/11
True Lies
Carrie
Audition
Riddle Of the Sphinx
Notorious
Manhattan
7 Samurai
Hidden Fortress
Yojimbo
Nashville
Taxi Driver
Sideways
Spectrmnexus
Battle royale
Parasite
The Nines
Chronos
Samsara
Baraka
the Man From Earth
Killshot
The lookout
$9.99
Funny Games
THX 1138 (1971)
Explorers (1985)
The Quiet Earth (1985)
Slaughterhouse Five
Idaho Transfer
Thirst
Pi
King of Hearts
Sleeper

TV:
Battlestar Galactica
Survivors
Being Human
Red Dwarf

Anime
Tokyo Godfathers
Trinity Blood
Fist of the North Star
Gunsmith Cats
Assemble Insert
Phantom Quest Corps
Project A-Ko
Dirty Pair: Project Eden
The World of Narue
Azumanga Daioh
Ghost in the Shell: SAC
Martian Successor Nadesico
Appleseed
eX-Driver
Oban Star Racers
Twelve kingdoms
Moribito
-The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
-Detroit Metal City
-5 Centimeters Per Second
1001 nights
area88
gantz
madlax
saiyuki
samurai champloo
soultaker
witch hunter robin
Ergo Proxy
Gundam Seed

Books/Graphic Novels To Read/Buy:
Y: The Last Man
FMA: Manga v8-17
The Gospel According To Biff
And Of Clay We Are Created--Isobell Allende
The Stand--Stephen King
The Tomorrow Series--John Marsden
Life As We Knew It--Susan Pfeffer
Robert Olen Butler--Jealous Husband Returns In Form Of Parrot
On Filmmaking
Visual Music
Philip K. Dick "How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart 2 Days Later"
Surealist Guide--Andre Breton
Songs of Distant Earth--Arthur C. Clark
Wolf & iron--Gordon R. Dickson
World made By Hand--James Kunstler
Alas, Babylon--Pat Frank
Arc Light--Eric L. Henry
Blueberry Girl
City of Bones, The City Of Ashes and the City of Glass.
Uglies
Snowfield
    An Occurrence at Owlcreek Bridge (short story)
    1984
    Deepwater trilogy--Ken Catran
    Neuromancer by William Gibson
    The Handmaid's Tale
    The Fabric of Reality--David Deutsch
    Sophie's World
    Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
    The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

Music to Buy:
Flying Pickets of Erasure--Only You
Muse--Time is Running Out
From the Earth to the Moon music
SLOW CLUB
Mika
Moby

Places To Go/Dream About (Assuming they no longer exist):
Ancient 7 Wonders--
Great Pyramid of Giza
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
Colossus of Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria
Midievil World
Stonehenge
Catacombs of Komel Shoqata
Great Wall of China
Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
Hagia Sophia
Others
Taj Mahal
Cairo Citadel
Ely Cathedral
Cluny Abbey
Chichenita
Christ Redeemer
Petra
Machu Picchu

There comes that time.

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:50:45 GMT

When I meet the reaper, the Reaper, will I be scared and hesitant to follow him? Or will I smile at him, tell him, "What're we waiting for?" And leap into that next unknown, that Afterworld? Will I "Rage, rage, against the dying of the light," refuse to go quietly? I wonder all the time. I suppose, like with most, that would depend on when and where, wouldn't it?

But we all know the devil's not that bad of a guy.

What's up with the whole fear-of-death thing people have? We all know it's coming, sooner or later. It's as natural as birth. Which, in all honestly, is way scarier. I mena, come on, babies? Who the Hell wants to be responsible for the future, the safety, the well-being, the sanity, the very person that baby will become? It's part nature, part nurture, and based on the retardations I see in most of the population a great many of the newborns of the world are screwed right from conception.

Which brings me to abartion. Based on how many abortions there are in any given year, it's safe to say if we didn't have abortion the human species would be much more overpopulated than it is now. So logically abortions a legal way to cull the species growth a bit. If you consider unborn fetuses to be human, it's the biggest ongoing massacre in human history. If you don't, holy crap that's a lot of nonhumans that are being killed. Too bad they've got no use, like cows, once they're dead.

Here's an idea: birth control. Try it sometime. Then women won't feel they have to get to begin with, and I won't have to listen to all the nonsense and whining about the subject. Although, at least with abortions--excluding rape victims and others who had no control over it, although you'd think they'd never heard of going to the doctor's to get the morning after pill--I can be comforted with the knowledge that if the mother's stupid enough to get pregnant without wanting to to begin with, she won't (at that time) pass on her stupid genes. Enough stupid people reproduce already.

On that note, if you've not seen the movie "Idiocracy," you need to. it is a must-see for anyone who has a brain and uses it at least every once in a while. Brief synopsis: a guy in the army (played by the wonderful Luke Wilson) is used to test hibernation chambers, and is accidentally left in stasis for 500 years. When he wakes up, he finds the world a very different place. Since mostly stupid people breed, the humankind has evolved stupider and stupider until it's reached a point that, upon his awakening, Luke Wilson is the smartest man, by far, in the world.

Hilarity ensues.

So my first point was death, wasn't it? It's that one utterly permanent thing in human being's lives. Aside from resuscitation and those fun things, and even those just prolong the inevitable, it's pretty much a sure thing. So why fear it? Fearing it makes people become "safe." By safe I mean they do the sure thing. The wholesome, legal, boring 9 to 5, the wife or husband, the spawn, that whole business. But what's the point? What's the point in having a job you don't necassarily enjoy? Having the wife that nags you to insanity, the husband that's obnoxious?

If we're all going to die, why the Hell do people wait until retirement to do all the travelling they wanted to do when they were younger? Why do people spend all their lives wishing they could do more? is it fear? Fear of what? Failure? Death? Failure and death, that unopened parachute? Hell, at least people who die BASE jumping and car racing have those moments of pure, utter enlightenment, those unadulterated joyful and excited times.

At least they live during their lives. At least they don't buy into the bullshit about being productive, being a wonderful product of humanity. 'Cause from what i see, humanity's shit. Pretty much always has been.

But whatever. Life is here, let's make some noise. Party like you're never going to die, dream like you'll never wake up, and if you're lucky you'll die before you can't remember that you're alive.

Good luck.

Lost: One Brother

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:43:33 GMT

Brother, where'd you go?
It's been forever since you fell away.
The sky stopped being blue this year,
And the clouds don't flirt with the moon.

Where'd you go?
I can't find you.