So little to do and so much time to do it!

No time for a blog today (so yesterday's posting of our teams' NFC project will have to suffice). I must go vote (didn't do it Wednesday like I planned... got caught up in a moviefilm). Then I must go figure out a costume for the evening as DWS is playing a house party on the south side of town shortly after I get off of work tonight. BUSY TIME!

The Last Man

I Don't Know Much, But I..."

LOVE Horatio Sanz's impression of Aaron Neville; cocoa buttery goodness. ONTO TODAY! (I foresee many of these impromptu bastardizations of capitalization in today's entry, BEWARE!) I'm beginning to think that Bobby Moynihan (the newest Featured player on SNL) may be the long overdo replacement of Horatio's role on the show; which as I see it, was to be goofy and fun no matter what circumstance (a comedy sketch failsafe). I'm still raving over last week's episode, so I'll point out this example: Moynihan in the Asshole Advertising sketch, crying. BRILLIANT! You may go watch that clip on Hulu if you like... Hulu... Huuuuluuu... HULU!

Forrest Gump is on HBO at this very moment. Forrest Gump is in my opinion, the best movie that I, personally, enjoy.

I plan on rocking the vote shortly (Billy Shortly) after this little P.Diddy right here. Perhaps I'll write about my choices on Friday or Monday. The only candidates I've endorsed at this point are Barack Obama and The Guy Who Isn't Leonard Boswell. If somebody tells you that "Ut oh! I think I blog'ed myself totally just endorsed Tom Harkin via twitter!" then that person is a liar. I'm on the fence with Harkin. He's beginning to look a lot like Boswell... who looks a lot like Hillary Clinton (politically). That type of Democrat needs to be removed the same as the GOP needs to distance itself from Neo-Conservatives and the Evangelical Right. The last election was obviously a step in this direction, in that the people supported change more than their candidate. I think that some of that is definitely spilling over into this election, in addition to overwhelming support for a candidate people really believe in. As I've said, I don't believe in him so much... but I'm definitely very much supporting a vote for change.

I began a diet the day after watching the DWS show video... I hadn't realized up to that point just how much bigger I am these days. Without divulging the detail of an exact weight, I will announce that I've successfully shed nine pounds (-9 LBs) over this two weeks. It's my goal to triple that loss over the next month or so. GOALS!

Weekend in Review, NFC

NFC comes to an end this evening...

----Friday----

Friday night, I gathered with some of 48 Hour Film Project Des Moines' finest to receive our character, prop, line, and genre (Alex Watkins, chiropracter; a net; "Darn the luck!"; fantasy or film de femme). We chose to go with fantasy, probably because La Femme Nakita is the only Femme I want on my brain. Leather zip up onesie ftw. Some ideas came out, we settled, we threw out ideas for our story, then others departed. I stayed to help write the script. That was done at 2am, seven hours after we received our info. Leave, sleep, then return on Saturday around 11:30am, breakfast borrito in one hand and a can of Dr. Dogg in the other.

----Saturday----

I arrived to the fellas going over location and shooting plans for the day. Etc. etc. I depart with our director to pick up our lady talent... two beautiful young ladies; one of which I may suggest is the cutest lady I've encountered in my journeys. We wait around for them to take forever (I said they were ladies, amirite?). I then drove us to Ewing Park, where we wasted WAYYYYY (notice the capitalization with additional letters on the end for emphasis) too much time. It was pretty awesome to see the way this group works, with proper equipment and whatnot. The park was a great place to spend what'll probably be the last really nice Saturday of the year. Moving along, we got some footage at B&B Supermarket, downtown around Nollen Plaza, and at our Producer/Editor/Co-Writer's sister's house. By the last location, I was spent. I spent a lot of time in my car listening to Big D & the Kids Table, then Dr. Dog. It was just after we left the park when our director decided to veer away from our script in favor of some cheesier gag shots. Being the group's most novice member, my attempts to keep us on task were most futile and exhausting. I ended up driving the two actresses home all by myself, marking the first time I've been alone in my car with two ladies, let alone two very attractive ones. It was pretty super awkward as I had nothing to say (never do in those situations), but I survived and am stronger for it. I returned home to watch SNL and go to sleep.

----SNL----

This episode was without a doubt, the funniest this cast has put together. The Registered Sex Offender Trick-or-Treat sketch with Will Forte was fantastic. Jon Hamm's Don Draper and John Ham sketches must've made Josh Brolin envious. Why were all of Brolin's sketches so bad!?! I was worried about weekend update with Seth Myers as I've never seen him do anything funny. Amy Poehler wasn't there because Will Arnett's child was emerging from the murky depths (I realize the Lady of the Lake was Matt Besser, but it was a UCB sketch so the reference works!). I've gotta say, I didn't mind a solo Seth Myers. A couple of his quips came off somewhat Norm Macdonald, which I am a fan of. I suggest you go to Hulu and watch as much of this episode as is available.

----Sunday----

LONGGGG (see earlier parenthetical explanation) day. I worked from noon 'til five, then drove home for a snack before heading to band practice. After waiting for Kenny to show up, we practiced a couple hours and I headed over to meet back up with the NFC team. We ate some Jimmy Johns, chatted a bit about comics, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and future Marvel movies. Then we parted ways so that Sam could get back to editing. The couple of bits I've seen of his work so far were excellent. I went over to a buddy's house, where we played some of the most epic Super Bomberman I've ever witnessed... dramatic draws like whoa. I'm pretty good at committing suicide via bomb in that game. I'm wondering if the Gaza Strip kinda looks like a real world Super Bomberman? I didn't wonder that last night though. I just went home and got my sleep on.

----NOW----

I'm going to head over the NFC team hub to record some voices and get my name in the credits a few more times! Actually, I've gotta add some pictures to this entry and get dressed before I head over there. Honesty.

----EDIT----

I'm not going to bother with pictures.

Time... Not space. What?

I'm taking today off to prepare for the National Film Challenge weekend that is upon us in just six point five hours. Sure, that's plenty of time to write down some thoughts (I'm am already here...); however, I'm not feeling very strongly (or even weakly) about anything today. Also, I have some podcasts to catch up on. I should probably also eat sometime soon... If you're bored enough to be here right now, I'd suggest checking our the new DWS MySpace page and "friending" us (if you're still on MySpace). After that, maybe hop on over to FunnyorDie.com and watch the Ron Howard video... I like that guy. When you're done with those things, you should come back here and leave some kind of comment. Maybe you could write a short blog of your own that may inspire me to resume blogging on Monday? I'm out of ideas.

Notice of Late NO Blog

I had intended to write up a blog update from here at work; however, I'm not feeling particularly bloggy. So, today equals another fail. Hooray!

Urban Design

Here's a song from the recent DWS show:

Japanese people don't hold very many erections.

Where to start today off (I'll confer with my notes...): DRUG-TOWN STORY! At some point a little over a week ago (or maybe exactly one week ago), another fella and I were at DrugTown on 42nd & University collecting snacks. After grabbing chips, cookies, and drink (the perfect snack-time combination, imo) we proceeded to the check-out lanes. At the cashier was a large and obviously drunken, black man (the comma makes it not a stereotype!); I'll call him Joe Six-Pack. He was very excited about Barack Obama, yelling things like "HOPE, MOTHERFUCKER!" at the man behind him in line. A man who was clad in casual gear (black athletic shorts and slightly large t-shirt... flip-flops) and had a cart full of some random junk (I don't recall what was in his cart). I'll call him Joe the Plumber. Six-Pack was taking forever in line as his credit card wouldn't run, so he had plenty of time to make this situation very awkward. It might've been much worse if PJ (Plumber Joe) were not a Barack Obama supporter as well (or intelligently non-confrontational in his situation). He nodded his head and told Joey Six'er that he was "preaching to the choir." The cashier continued to work on the CC-dialer issue, calling over another employee (obviously defeated in his life's trials) and finally, after maybe six minutes, got things up and going. Joe Six-Pack left the store "get'n out the vote" for Obama. The cashier continued to help Joe the Plumber and the cashier's co-worker opened the next register to help me and my buddy. Our cashier apologizes to us (not for his comb-over or pedephilic mustache) for the large, boisterous man... he told us "that one's a decent, good man." He then stopped and reflected a second (before asking me to pay my total) and said "I guess we've gotta ask ourselves, are we ready for President Biden?" I asked, "huh?" to which he replied, "I give it two months before somebody kills that muslim Obama, so we're basically electing Biden." I said, "that's a pretty sick view of our country, dontcha think?" "I'm just saying... I'm a Republican."

WTF.

I collected my change, grabbed my unbagged groceries, and left the store a bit in shock. This is the first time I've witnessed first-hand the type of ignorance I assume has majority in this country, in such a painfully unexpected moment (a late-night snack transaction).
Anyways, as a metaphoric epilogue... What if Joe Six-Pack in all of his excitement forgot to register to vote or Asgard-forbid he lives in Ohio and his vote never gets counted? What if Joe the Plumber says he's likes Obama, but actually intends to vote for the old white guy? What if our dumbass cashier or one of his cousin/wife's relatives actually attempt an assassination? UGHHHHHHH. While I trust in Biden's ability (last year I assumed the ticket would end up Biden-Obama), I'm excited for the symbol Barack Obama represents in this election... which if anything, is a symbol that the people are beginning to demand change. I hope the average Joes don't fail again.

Another hump day sans humping.

First things, I just did a quick Wikipedia search to reveal the mystery behind the name Wednesday (random knowledge never hurt anybody, unless that random knowledge is sound economic policy and your name is Ron Paul - then it hurts your chances of your colleagues listening to you). Guess what? Wednesday is pretty cool. "The name comes from the Middle English Wednes dei, which is from Old English language Wēdnes dæg, meaning the day of the English god Woden (Wodan) who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th century. Wēdnes dæg is like the Old Norse Oðinsdagr ("Odin's day"), which is an early translation of the Latin dies Mercurii ("Mercury's day"), and reflects the widespread association of Woden with Mercury going back to Tacitus." The key part of this information is that Wednesday is relative to "Odin's day." Odin is the father of Thor, which I haven't done the research (brief Wiki lookup), but I'm going to assume Thursday was once actually "Thor's day" because it immediately follows "Odin's day." IT JUST MAKES AWESOME SENSE! NEXT!

I read about twenty comics yesterday (finally catching up). Stand-outs among the last month's books included Deadpool, War Machine (Iron Man Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. #33), and Ghost Rider. The new Deadpool series is perfect thus far (three issues in). The three-part Secret Invasion tie-in was able to establish that ol' Wade Wilson is still wacko, yet he's got the skills to pay the medical bills (or maybe Agency X has a sweet health care package?). One reveal here is that Deadpool is actually working for Nick Fury on this assignment. Looking at the solicits for the next two issues, it looks like DP may be headed for some darker adventures (similar to the pre-Cable & Deadpool, Deadpool series). I'm down. Unfortunately, Medina isn't doing the pencils going forward... hopefully Marvel doesn't pull an X-Factor on me and throw an awful art-scribe on my new favorite book.

War Machine: Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a solid read (much better than any Iron Man: DoS books since the Extremis story). Away from the book, I read yesterday that Don Cheadle will be taking over for Terrance Howard as James Rhodes (aka War Machine) in the movies. I thought that TH was a perfect casting choice, so I'm a bit bummed... at the same time though, Don Cheadle is awesome and I'm sure he'll serve the role well. Hopefully he's locked up for a couple of films, so we can really see the WM in action. Back to the comic, the coolest thing in this book was the ending (a particularly gnarly new WM armor). Check it out!

Finally, the Ghost Rider series has been fantastic since Jason Aaron took over. His spin that the Ghost Rider is actually a tool of Heaven, mixed with naughty nurses and nuns, as Johnny Blaze seeks Zadkiel for a reckoning - all excellent. The only thing I'm not 100 percent a fan of with this series currently, is the art. The style is fitting most of the time, but here and there the character's faces get very warped and goofy... the inking doesn't help the matter much. Luckily the story is solid enough to cover for any art issues. I wish I could say the same for X-Factor... what a fall from grace (I blame the She-Hulk crossover).

Outside of the Marvel Universe, Driving While Stupid plays tonight. I need to sit down and run through the songs by myself at some point today to make sure I've got them down... I'd say I'm 90 percent certain I won't make any big mistakes. One of the things DWS is known for are crazy, generally obscene things happening at shows (Kenny). I don't think anything is planned yet for this evening... we'll see. It should be fun...

In Loving Memory...

Nader Tots!

Cole and I drove to Ames earlier today to watch Ralph Nader speak at ISU. I made a couple notes regarding particular talking points of his that I really liked. The first of which was his refrain that America is the only "Western" country failing to provide so many human accomodations that would better our society; such as health care and college education. Do I think that in America, every citizen should be afforded health care? Absolutely. Do I think that in America, every citizen should be afforded a college education? Definitely. I'm on board with both ideas and am glad that the candidate I intend to vote for (Barack Obama) has plans to make both of these subjects a reality. Nader threw out $60 billion as a rough figure for what it would cost to provide free tuition to public universities. That's what our military is spending roughly every ten months in Iraq...or less than ten percent of the recent bail-out package. If we're going to create money out of nowhere, shouldn't it be for the general benefit of everybody, not just a select group? Another point from Nader is that while we're all subject to sales tax, Wall St. is exempt. If Wall St. were taxed just one tenth of one percent on the sale of derivatives, it would net $500 billion per year (they could bail themselves out?). Unfortunately, our government blew a great opportunity to institute such a policy by giving in to special interests. Ralph Nader suggested a couple of solutions for this reoccuring special interest problem. One solution would be to take away the legal stance that a corporation is a person with legal rights; which takes away any business' ability to legally participate in government. A supplemental idea I really like would be to create Congressional Watch-Dog groups in every district. Two or three non-partisan, full-time employees monitoring the actions of a distrct's representative and reporting back to that district (making more readily available information so that we can hold our representatives accountable). This can be greatly effective in that the most power granted by the Constitution to any branch of government is to Congress... a collective of representatives that can have a two-thirds (majority) change in seated representatives every four years. If we held our representatives accountable for their actions (and obvious catering to lobbyists), perhaps representatives like Leonard Boswell would rightly be out of office well before they can make such an ill-advised vote as he did on the financial markets bill. Ugh. Anyhow, the main theme of Nader's speech seemed to be "civic responsibility." He's running for President, although there's no chance of winning, because of it is his civic responsibility. He's able to spread his ideas around the country and provide a call to action for persons suffering from general apathy. He said something along the lines of 'freedom is actively engaging the forces that would potentially impede such liberty'... not simply sitting around listening to the music of our choosing or whatever inconsequential thing any of us are doing; but being involved in the process. I hope to take that to heart. Finally, a point he made a couple of times is that if one concede's to "least-worst voting" (less of two evils), one must challenge the candidate they choose to take up ideas that aren't being discussed. We must hold them accountable for flip-flops in stance, when their original stance was the right one (see: Barack Obama's FISA vote). It's with this idea, that I can still vote for Barack Obama next month and not consider myself a hypocrite. I have to challenge myself to do what's in my power to make him a candidate I support. On a smaller scale, I need to challenge myself to be more active in harassing our dumb ass local representatives until they start acting correctly in their elected capacity.

Another thoughtless day?

I'm checking in from work, just to announce to myself and any of "my friends" (eat your heart out McCain) that I don't have much to say this evening. I decided last night (after dawning sweat pants) that I was going to sleep in late today and lounge around in celebration of yesterday's job interview and the potential of new-job-getting. My day then took a turn for the better when a buddy introduced the idea of Chinese Buffet and some good ol' fashioned chiengin' out. This along with a couple of errands and a stop at the comic book store (which I've been neglecting recently) kept me out until a couple of hours ago when I arrived at work... The place where yesterday I was paid to sit through another painful "debate." Rather than repeat my previous ramblings, I'll merely comment that I was once again entertained by the twitter #debate08 channel (it's like people watching without the people). I've got a couple more hours around here tonight, which I'm going to use catching up on episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu, which when weighed against writing for an audience of me sounds like much more fun. Until Friday, adieu!

Frustrated, Inc.

I hate to think about the bail-out bill anymore, except to wonder how long it's going to take to see obvious examples of how large this particular government blunder is. Thank goodness for the internet because I'm sure those examples aren't going to be shown on television (not even Fox News, lol). At this point, I've lost all faith in television as a source of information. It's merely an entertainment monitor. I think it's more than obvious that our televised political debates aren't staged for informative purposes. Candidates aren't held to the question, their statements aren't fact checked (unless you search online), and at which point a candidate is on TV, he or she isn't saying anything revoltionary anyways. Elections are held for change. With the size of our government, the only way change is plausible is via revolution. Not merely modification, but by a post-definitively swift and forceful taking of change. Things that if a candidate wants to suggest he or she is running for, they might not vote for such a bill as the recent bail-out mockery... Selloutz!

I watched a couple of documentaries over the weekend. The first was Zeitgeist: Addendum, provided free online on Google Video (or see my previous entry). I had not heard of the previous Peter Joseph movie sans Addendum until looking for more information on it's sequel after watching. What I gather is Zeitgeist, Sr. covers is The Fed and Religion. Addendum covers these things in a different ratio, extensively covering our monetary system, debt, and The Fed's control and corruption of world markets and nations throughout history. It's fantastically detailed and presented. After that, it teaches on a growing scale from money to corporations to government to religion to humanity and the Earth (from bottom to top in the grand scheme, but the opposite of the corporate counterpart). While the tone of the movie is powerfully ominous, the movie builds hope in that with the information provided, change can be claimed and perhaps, civilization moved into its next great age. Further information about this Utopian society can be found here: The Venus Project. As I said in my last post, I recommend watching this.

The second Doctor of the past weekend was Religulous. As a self-identified agnostic, this movie played to crowd (preached to the choir invisibile?). I'm all for watching Bill Maher ask people how they can believe some of this junk (or whatever your religion is). It's also great to work at a movie theater showing this film as I can see a lot of people attending it. There's hope! Bill Maher suggests that sixteen percent (16%) of Americans are non-religious. He then points out that this number is greater than (outnumbers) our Jewish population (the one with all the money and the funny jokes). If this is the case, then why in the world does it feel like such a minority? There were two highlights of the film for me. The first was an older fella who works in astronomy and as a reverend. It was nice to see an traditional seeming representative of religion show appeal to reason and rationality. The second highlight would be Maher's rant at the end of the film and how it started small and built to a call to action against religious forces bringing upon us a self-fulfilled Armageddon. It's just pretty kewl beanz that this guy is on television (that there's one of 'em on our side). I would absolutely suggest anybody see this movie and if you're a subscriber to God, Inc. to ask yourself the questions Mr. Maher asks. Fact-check yourself. Submit querie.

I leave you with a bit o' Carl Sagan:
(as seen in Zeitgest: Addendum)
"An extraterrestrial visitor examining the differences among human societies would find those differences trivial compared to the similarities.
Our lives, our past and our future are tied to the sun, the moon and the stars... We humans have seen the atoms which constitute all of nature and the forces that sculpted this work... and we, who embody the local eyes and ears and thoughts and feelings of the cosmos, have begun to wonder about our origins... star stuff contemplating the stars, organized collections of ten billion billion billion atoms, contemplating the evolution of nature, tracing that long path by which it arrived at consciousness here on the planet earth... Our loyalties are to the species and to the planet. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves but also to that cosmos ancient and vast from which we spring.
We are one species.
We are star stuff harvesting star light."

Carl Sagan 1934 - 1996

Zeitgeist: Addendum

I recommend checking this out if you've got a couple of hours to spare. It's interesting and certainly thought-provoking, even if extreme in its idealism.

Awful Waffle

Here we are again, on the verge of further handicapping any chance we have of getting out of this "crisis" on the plus side and accidentally getting back on the right track in regards to making government effective and beneficial for all Americans. If that naive bastard Pangloss were around today, he's be on John McCain's campaign staff, appreciated for his indiotic reassurances that all is for the best. The House of Reps have received a slightly retooled bill overwhelmingly passed in the Senate; it's expected to pass this time around in the House. What's different this time? An increase in FDIC backing of accounts from $100k to $250k. I guess we might as well... 'cuz when this thing crashes, the government won't have the $100k to refund the banks... they may as well not have $250k either, while furthering instability and foreshadowing the Greater Depression. This shows just how much faith they have in this package working (by insuring 150% more loss). Also, we're getting more tax cuts! YEY! Except wait... aren't we continuing to build unprecedented debt while continually increasing spending? Where's this money coming from? Ohhhhhh! We have a printer! Sweet. Well, gig's up on that! China wants their money back! Maybe they're sudden insistance is due to forsight on their part that sooner than later, the dollar will be worthless and their investment in our country was just as bad as our own. There's still the chance that this bill won't pass again. What would that signify? A fantastic change in our Legislative Branch where the voice of the common man is heard louder than that of the wealthiest 4% of our country. I hold zero hope of this happening (there's a bleak track record involved here). All is for the worst in Washington and here we are, all revolutionless.

Third Party or Bust!!!

The Senate will vote today on a slightly amended version of the bail-out bill the House put down two days ago. My Presidential pick, Sen. Obama, is pushing for it to pass and this makes me sad because I don't know if I can support him anymore. What happened to opposition in politics? Not just fillibusters and party-platform politics, but asking questions about the agenda behind a bill and looking for other solutions. This bill forces our government (our collective voice) into what should be a private and free market, allowed to prosper and fail on its own. A free market can correct itself when situations like our current one arrise. It may take some time, but in the end I think it has to be better to let the market cut its own corruption and fat by expelling these inflated industries through bankruptcy. The necessary parts are going to keep chugging along because the demand is there for their services. Forcing over $700 billion in tax payers money (created out of thin air) into the market in hopes of correcting the horribly bad decisions of some runaway special interests cannot be a good idea. Is there no understanding in Washington that everytime more money is printed, it further deflates the value of the dollar? How is that good for America or the greater world market? Are we forgetting that our "President" is the one who is trying to rush us into this? The same guy who obviously doens't give a damn about anybody who isn't wealthy enough to benefit from his policies and vote for him the last two elections? At this point, if GW suggests something, every single democrat should be against it. I thought that Barack Obama would understand the weight of this situation, but instead he's turned into Hillary Clinton. A majority of Americans do not want this bill to pass. These are the people that Obama has been talking about helping over the last year and a half and the same people who got him to the top in the primaries. The change we can believe in is a shift from Washington only working for special interests to casting out those interests in favor of the common man. If and when Barack Obama votes for this bill today, he will have made a gross error in supporting more bad ideas to help the wrong people... more of the same. Where's the Obama that I was excited about last January? That Obama would stand up against this and fight for a better solution. As much as I don't want to, I'm being forced to buy into Dr. Paul's suggestion that these two politicians (Obama & McCain) are more or less the same person (politically). I'm sure if you looked at their voting records the last few months, they'd be nearly identical as they spend this amount of time pandering for middle-ground votes... support they'll inevitably forget about next January. I still believe that Obama is far more intelligent and much less of a risk to our country than John McCain; therefore, he'll still get my vote in November. It's finally been reduced to a 'lesser of two evils' view for me... something I really hoped wouldn't happen this election.I can't wait for the election when we have viable third party candidates, if only so it'll open up the current two parties to playing better politics. Ugh. The Great Depression of 2008 for me, may have absolutely nothing to do with Wall St. and everything to do with Obama turning his back on Main St.


btw, did anybody else notice that after the House voted against this bill, gas prices went down?