Author: Heath

10
Jun
2005
15:43

Inner Monkey

Look inside yourself
Embrace your inner monkey
Everyone has one

07
Jun
2005
8:11

Pummeled

Monday was not good
Overall, life is still good
Bugger off Monday

03
Jun
2005
22:27

Tagged?

A quick aside: since I couldn’t take the pressure of supplying a haiku every day, I’ve decided to change my methods to instead post a new haiku with each new entry I make. Sometimes it may just be a haiku relating to the entry, others just a random inspiration. We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

Apparently I’ve been “tagged” by some look-looks.

It’s the Caesar’s Bath Meme game. You list five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can’t really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), “Nice. Nice. Not thrilling…but nice.”

  1. American Idol (and by extension reality TV in general)
    I don’t get it, I’ve never got it, and I don’t want to get it.
  2. Tied for second (only because I’d feel redundant making two entries about musical artists), Bob Dylan and The Greatful Dead
    Neither has ever done anything for me, and I don’t mean in the sense that they’ve never lent me money or washed my dishes, but musically they’ve just never floated my boat (also not to be taken literally).
  3. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys
    This one pains me to admit. This is probably one of the single most influential albums ever. It seems like every musician, band, songwriter, and hell, probably mimes, bus drivers, accountants and every other profession in the world seem to list this album as one of the great masterpieces of all time. I can appreciate it on a technical level with it’s masterful harmonies, orchestration, and incredible vision and innovation for it’s time, but at the end of it all it leaves me feeling very much like the line that inspired this exercise: “Nice. Nice. Not thrilling…but nice.” I’ve probably just been put on some secret musician blacklist for writing this. I plan on giving it more attentio in the future and maybe, when I’m ready, it will unveil itself to me like a burrito whose tortilla has fallen open.
  4. Blue Velvet
    Another example of something I’ve always heard exalted as some incredible classic, and one of Lynch’s greatest works. It did nothing for me at all. I far prefer Mulholland Drive for a Lynchian Mind Fuck movie.
  5. Getting Drunk
    Most of my personal experiences with this were completely miserable and ended with firehose-like power vomiting. The few occasions where I managed to get drunk but not too drunk were just completely “meh.” No thrill. I think my body just doesn’t agree with alcohol. I certainly can’t stand the taste of it. What few alcoholic drinks I can tolerate, I generally think would taste even better without the alcohol in them. On the whole I’d far prefer some chocolate milk or a soda (or some low carb chocolate milk or a diet soda now that I’ve given up sugar). Generally speaking I don’t like people very much when they’re drunk either. They seem fake, obnoxious, and I feel like there’s a think haze between me and them that completely prevents me from “connecting” with them on any real personal level. I can understand people who genuinely like a certain alcoholic beverage and wish to partake a little, but the whole drinking to purposefully get utterly Sheen-faced with complete intent and purpose completely baffles me and makes me feel like I’m from another planet observing the strange behavior of these ugly bags of mostly water known as Yoo-Mons!

Now the disclaimer: That is not meant to be “judgmental” or criticizing of anyone who does drink. I fully support “to each their own” and realize that the above statement is a sweeping generalization which does not blanketly apply to everyone. It’s just my own personal feelings from my own experiences. I do not think less of anyone who drinks or have any kind of lack of respect or other condescending view of them. Many of my favorite people drink and get drunk. This disclaimer is brought to you by the letter B and a grant from the Chubb Foundation.

03
Jun
2005
18:34

Self Esteem

I am a great guy
Versatile and talented
Only I see it

03
Jun
2005
18:30

I couldn’t resist

First a quick update not worthy of its own post. We spent memorial day weekend in Dallas with my friend Esteban totally vegging out and playnig video games all damn weekend. I will be buying Mario Golf:Toadstool Tour for the Gamecube.
Next order of business:
I don’t do a lot of these test type thingies, but this one amused me and I thought it was quite accurate. However since I’m considered borderline in 3 of the 4 traits that means I could very easily be part of any of the listed groups as long as they have the “Arrogant” trait in them.
I’d say that’s pretty accurate in that I do think very highly of myself, I just don’t think that anyone else thinks highly of me. My self esteem is great. It’s other’s esteem of me that I always fear sucks.

Continue reading…

20
May
2005
12:38

My rambling spoiler free thoughts on Revenge of the Sith

As with all the prequels, I am of two minds with this film. There is a definite side of me that loved this film and without a doubt it’s the best of the prequels. There is the other side of that also has plenty of nits to pick and recognizes the familiar flaws (some really bad writing and acting). Overall my “enjoyed it” side wins out, but I also fell that a large part of that is the nostalgia. This film was as powerful as it was to me because of my fondness for the original trilogy. When taken for what it is, it’s place in the mythology and its purpose in the overall story it kicks ass. Taken alone and set aside as just a film, I think that I look a bit askance in its direction. There’s a definite dichotomy within me concerning this film as well as the other prequels (that being said, I am one of the few who actually liked the first two prequels despite the nits that I could pick with it).
I am very glad Lucas kept it dark and intense and didn’t cave to the groups complaining that this PG-13 rating ruined it as a “family” film or whatever.
I found it a bit slow to get going (well not necessarily “slow” since it was action right from the start, but not incredibly engaging right off) but the further it went on the more it sucked me in.
I decided today that one of the reasons the original trilogy is superior is that Lucas was not some revered “god” at that point and the actors were probably more free to ad lib or change up Lucas’s stilted writing to make it more natural. There’s a famous quote from Harrison Ford where he told George at some point while filming the first trilogy (paraphrased) “You can write this shit, but you can’t say it!” I have a feeling there’s probably far less freedom to tamper with “The Great Lucas’s” work these days.
That and I firmly believe that Lucas is a victim of buying into his own hype and getting totally lost and confused within his own mythology.
Don’t get the wrong impression though, by the end of the movie I was wide-eyed, jaw dropped, and teary-eyed just like the kid who saw “Empire Strikes Back” 16 times during its initial theatrical run, and the original trilogy countless times (in all its incarnations) since. Those movies are a huge part of who I am today, from my love of movie making to my many fond memories involving me, friends, and collections of Star Wars toys (and the painful memory of how, once I’d outgrown them, I took them all out to a friend’s piece of land in the country and we shot them all to pieces with guns not knowing how I would be kicking myself later on).
The force will be with me…always.
Now to just wait for the Super Mega VIP Deluxe Boxed Director’s Post-final cut Limited Top Secret Ultimate Platinum Jedi Master Edition.