I have begun to realize the more you give to homeless people, the more you want to give to homeless people and the worse you feel when you don’t give to the homeless people. For example, let’s say you give a guy your leftovers some time. And then you do it again. Soon enough it becomes sort of a regular habit… you go out, your get leftovers, and you give them to a random homeless guy on the street. But one night, after you’ve already given away your leftovers, you see another homeless guy. What can you do? It’s not like this guy is any less deserving… you want to give him something, but all you have on you are credit cards and that one Benjamin ($100 bill for those of you who don’t know (I don’t have any, I saw it on Slumdog Millionaire)) and you can’t give him the money (that’s a lot of money and he’s homeless… we’re all skeptical) plus you’re already late for the show. Now you feel bad don’t you… and while we’re on the topic of homeless people, I see a lot less homeless women than men… good job ladies!
I have, unfortunately, begun to pick up on this otherworldly obsession with shoes most people seem to have. People can never have enough shoes. It’s the one thing we can always make an excuse to have more of. I once knew a kid who had three of the same pair of shoes (in his defense, he liked them). Now, personally, I’ve never been a shoe kind of guy… but now I’m beginning to catch the bug. This is coming from a guy who thought he didn’t need new shoes when there was a fist-sized hole in the bottom of a pair of his shoes (after I got new shoes, I still kept the ones with the holes in them… in fact, I do that for all my shoes, even the ones that are too small). I think it’s inevitable, some time in our lives, we will all begin to crave that insatiable hunger for new shoes.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
American Movie Review
My cousin Bob thought it would be a fun idea if I did some reviews. Coincedentally, I happened to agree with him. So he gives me something to review and I review it and post it on my blog. If you'd like to know more about the process, ask me (or him), or see my blog post entitled "Think About It" posted on 12/12/09. Here is my review. Sorry it's so long.
My cousin suggested that my first review be about movie called American Movie. He described the movie as, “a documentary about a guy who lives at home with his parents in Wisconsin and makes horror movies” (I don’t know how to cite this… Bob wrote it). The first thing that I noticed was that it was a documentary. I’m not really a documentary kind of guy; I like more mainstream high gross films. I typically watch top box office films like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean, so I wasn’t very excited about the movie. The next thing that I noticed was that the guy was from Wisconsin. Since I’m fairly self centered, I thought my cousin chose this movie because the guy lived in Wisconsin and I go to school in Wisconsin. The last thing that I took from the one sentence I knew about the movie was that the guy lived with his parents and made horror movies. At this point in time, I guessed he was a total loser. This all went through my head in the short time it took me to read what Bob had told about the film.
The next thing I thought was that I had to take this all with a grain of salt. Knowing Bob, I knew he had a fairly sophisticated and educated tasted in movies. I know he’s seen a lot more movies than I have, and I think he has seen a lot more non main stream films than I have; so I thought that I shouldn’t be so quick to judge. So I took a step back and tried not to make judgments so quickly. When I went to get the movie I was forced to further evaluate the film. I looked for it in the documentary and horror sections of the store but I couldn’t find it. I had to get help finding it and it turned out to be in the comedy section of the store. This completely rearranged what I thought and helped me to have some hope for the movie (I don’t like documentaries but I do like comedies).
With this basic preconception I began to watch the movie. In the first couple of seconds, I had already come to think of the main character, Mark Borchardt, as a total loser and geek. As the film progressed, I realized that to a certain extent, I was right, but at the same time I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. My view of Mark constantly changed throughout the entire film. He went from a burnout loser to a excited and motivated filmmaker to a army renegade to a high school dropout druggie to a former druggie to a total hick rube to a charismatic motivated filmmaker again. He was basically a horse of a different color, constantly changing so that you could never fully form a picture of who he actually was, but if you looked hard enough, you could see exactly what you were looking for, you saw him as who you wanted him to be. For me, that turned out to be a great guy. He is the protagonist and I personally wanted him to win in the end and I was able to see him as a winner because of his personality, no matter what the outcome of the movie.
Knowing this, I can assure you this movie isn’t for everybody. In my opinion, American Movie is the perfect movie for community college students who have an education, a job, and their dreams to juggle all at the same time who just decided to take a night to themselves to relax and remember why and aspiring independent film makers. However it isn’t exclusive to them, a lot of people would enjoy seeing this.Here’s the kicker of the entire thing, my favorite part of the movie was the back and forth between Mark and his uncle, Bill Borchardt. Bill was the financial backing for Mark’s movie, but the entire time he was pessimistic about what would come of the movie and his money. It plays great contrast to Mark who was persistent in completing his movie, no matter what mood he was in (Mark wasn’t always happy, but he drove himself, no matter what his mood was, to finish his film and make it great). The back and forth banter between the two of them is the cherry on top of the ice cream if you ask me. It’s great because Mark brings such energy and Bill drains the energy of a room, but makes you laugh at the same time, and Mark is the perfect person to fit with Bill. Also, the way they’re put together, it just makes me think the entire time, don’t die Bill, don’t die (Bill looks really really old). The other thing that began to creep up in my mind while I was watching the movie was that I would like to see the final product. The father into the movie I got, the more I thought to myself, I’d like to see Coven (the name of one of Mark’s movies, pronounced cove-(rhymes with love)-en). I really want to buy Coven now and watch it right away. So if you do decide to watch American Movie, remember, it’s better than the average documentary, look for the back and forth between Bill and Mark, and prepare yourself and buy Coven because you’re going to want to see that immediately afterwards, plus you’ll be helping the cause (Mark Borchardt).
My cousin suggested that my first review be about movie called American Movie. He described the movie as, “a documentary about a guy who lives at home with his parents in Wisconsin and makes horror movies” (I don’t know how to cite this… Bob wrote it). The first thing that I noticed was that it was a documentary. I’m not really a documentary kind of guy; I like more mainstream high gross films. I typically watch top box office films like Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean, so I wasn’t very excited about the movie. The next thing that I noticed was that the guy was from Wisconsin. Since I’m fairly self centered, I thought my cousin chose this movie because the guy lived in Wisconsin and I go to school in Wisconsin. The last thing that I took from the one sentence I knew about the movie was that the guy lived with his parents and made horror movies. At this point in time, I guessed he was a total loser. This all went through my head in the short time it took me to read what Bob had told about the film.
The next thing I thought was that I had to take this all with a grain of salt. Knowing Bob, I knew he had a fairly sophisticated and educated tasted in movies. I know he’s seen a lot more movies than I have, and I think he has seen a lot more non main stream films than I have; so I thought that I shouldn’t be so quick to judge. So I took a step back and tried not to make judgments so quickly. When I went to get the movie I was forced to further evaluate the film. I looked for it in the documentary and horror sections of the store but I couldn’t find it. I had to get help finding it and it turned out to be in the comedy section of the store. This completely rearranged what I thought and helped me to have some hope for the movie (I don’t like documentaries but I do like comedies).
With this basic preconception I began to watch the movie. In the first couple of seconds, I had already come to think of the main character, Mark Borchardt, as a total loser and geek. As the film progressed, I realized that to a certain extent, I was right, but at the same time I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. My view of Mark constantly changed throughout the entire film. He went from a burnout loser to a excited and motivated filmmaker to a army renegade to a high school dropout druggie to a former druggie to a total hick rube to a charismatic motivated filmmaker again. He was basically a horse of a different color, constantly changing so that you could never fully form a picture of who he actually was, but if you looked hard enough, you could see exactly what you were looking for, you saw him as who you wanted him to be. For me, that turned out to be a great guy. He is the protagonist and I personally wanted him to win in the end and I was able to see him as a winner because of his personality, no matter what the outcome of the movie.
Knowing this, I can assure you this movie isn’t for everybody. In my opinion, American Movie is the perfect movie for community college students who have an education, a job, and their dreams to juggle all at the same time who just decided to take a night to themselves to relax and remember why and aspiring independent film makers. However it isn’t exclusive to them, a lot of people would enjoy seeing this.Here’s the kicker of the entire thing, my favorite part of the movie was the back and forth between Mark and his uncle, Bill Borchardt. Bill was the financial backing for Mark’s movie, but the entire time he was pessimistic about what would come of the movie and his money. It plays great contrast to Mark who was persistent in completing his movie, no matter what mood he was in (Mark wasn’t always happy, but he drove himself, no matter what his mood was, to finish his film and make it great). The back and forth banter between the two of them is the cherry on top of the ice cream if you ask me. It’s great because Mark brings such energy and Bill drains the energy of a room, but makes you laugh at the same time, and Mark is the perfect person to fit with Bill. Also, the way they’re put together, it just makes me think the entire time, don’t die Bill, don’t die (Bill looks really really old). The other thing that began to creep up in my mind while I was watching the movie was that I would like to see the final product. The father into the movie I got, the more I thought to myself, I’d like to see Coven (the name of one of Mark’s movies, pronounced cove-(rhymes with love)-en). I really want to buy Coven now and watch it right away. So if you do decide to watch American Movie, remember, it’s better than the average documentary, look for the back and forth between Bill and Mark, and prepare yourself and buy Coven because you’re going to want to see that immediately afterwards, plus you’ll be helping the cause (Mark Borchardt).
Monday, February 8, 2010
Cold Weather
I always have a hard time trying to think of a title for each of my posts. There is never a unifying theme through my many thoughts so I never have a title that covers everything I'm talking about. If anybody could help me in the future, or if you have a suggestion for me, let me know...
I am beginning to hate the snow. It’s awful. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it is true. I grew up in Chicago where I felt like it never snowed and there was never enough snow on the ground and now I say this. The reason I hate the snow is what makes me feel like I can say this. I don’t hate snow because it’s cold or because it’s wet or because it’s slippery or because it can impair vision. I hate it because it makes people put salt and sand on the sidewalks. The sand gets my pants all dirty and gets in my shoes and contrary to its purpose, make the ground more slippery for me. Aside from the salt and sand, I love snow.
Now that I’m in college, I sleep a lot. Actually, I probably sleep the same amount, just at different times… I sleep less at night, but I take way more naps. A typical day might look like this: 12 am- start homework, 1 am- go to sleep, 7 am- wake up and go to class, 9 am- come back and take a nap, 9:30 am- wake up and go to class, 11 am- come back, finish my homework, and take a nap, 11:45 am- wake up and go to class, 1 pm- come back and take a nap, 9 pm- wake up and do nothing, 12 am- start homework. As this was going on the other day, I felt really tired. I got in bed to take a nap at about 4 pm and woke up at 6 pm still feeling really tired. That got me thinking, what if I go to sleep and don’t wake up before the night… I’ll just end up sleeping until 11 the next morning. But what if I don’t wake up then… what if I don’t ever wake up again? I might not be taking so many naps anymore…
Beware the site Blogger. I started my blog (actually my brother and sisters did) on it and thought, there are probably a lot of other blogs like mine that are just about stupid everyday stuff. I was wrong. It is full of blogs about families. Almost every other blog I saw was about Joe Schmoe’s family. Some people have absolutely no life at all… oh wait that’s me.
I am beginning to hate the snow. It’s awful. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it is true. I grew up in Chicago where I felt like it never snowed and there was never enough snow on the ground and now I say this. The reason I hate the snow is what makes me feel like I can say this. I don’t hate snow because it’s cold or because it’s wet or because it’s slippery or because it can impair vision. I hate it because it makes people put salt and sand on the sidewalks. The sand gets my pants all dirty and gets in my shoes and contrary to its purpose, make the ground more slippery for me. Aside from the salt and sand, I love snow.
Now that I’m in college, I sleep a lot. Actually, I probably sleep the same amount, just at different times… I sleep less at night, but I take way more naps. A typical day might look like this: 12 am- start homework, 1 am- go to sleep, 7 am- wake up and go to class, 9 am- come back and take a nap, 9:30 am- wake up and go to class, 11 am- come back, finish my homework, and take a nap, 11:45 am- wake up and go to class, 1 pm- come back and take a nap, 9 pm- wake up and do nothing, 12 am- start homework. As this was going on the other day, I felt really tired. I got in bed to take a nap at about 4 pm and woke up at 6 pm still feeling really tired. That got me thinking, what if I go to sleep and don’t wake up before the night… I’ll just end up sleeping until 11 the next morning. But what if I don’t wake up then… what if I don’t ever wake up again? I might not be taking so many naps anymore…
Chicago is the fourth coldest city in the U.S. according to the weather channel.
Beware the site Blogger. I started my blog (actually my brother and sisters did) on it and thought, there are probably a lot of other blogs like mine that are just about stupid everyday stuff. I was wrong. It is full of blogs about families. Almost every other blog I saw was about Joe Schmoe’s family. Some people have absolutely no life at all… oh wait that’s me.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Return of the Blog (it has nothing to do with Star Wars... Sorry)
I get really sick of superlatives and comparatives that are difficult to figure out. Certain things are really easy, but others just annoy me. For example, I know it’s funnier and more exhausted, but is it more stupid or stupider? That’s why I like to use dumb (I know it’s dumberer) but dumb isn’t PC. Dumb actually refers to people who can’t talk, it’s the same as mute. That’s why I think the meaning of dumb should be changed to be the same as stupid.
I would just like to point out how much having a blog sucks. Despite what you may think, it oppresses my creative thought, rather than encouraging it. It prevents me from being able to not be able to think my thoughts. Let me explain, normally, there is no pressure to think my wild thoughts, but now I feel like I have to be on my game 24/7. It also sucks because now I’m that guy with a blog… I feel all douchey on the inside. But like I said earlier… the pressure makes my thoughts suffer… take this one for example.
I think it’s odd how humanses perceive things… you see what you want to see. I don’t have any examples right now but eventually some time it will happen to you, and you’ll have a great moment of realization. Speaking of realization… it’s really fun; you should try it some time. It’s one of the greatest feelings when you forget what you want to say, but then remember it again.
Over the weekend (11/27/09 to 11/28/09) the American people spent $11,000,000,000.
Slam poetry is one of the coolest things ever. Whenever I watch somebody performing slam poetry, or slamming, I’m just awed. I just think, I wish I could do that, especially when they are improv slamming. It’s so impressive. It would be a pretty sweet talent.
I would just like to point out how much having a blog sucks. Despite what you may think, it oppresses my creative thought, rather than encouraging it. It prevents me from being able to not be able to think my thoughts. Let me explain, normally, there is no pressure to think my wild thoughts, but now I feel like I have to be on my game 24/7. It also sucks because now I’m that guy with a blog… I feel all douchey on the inside. But like I said earlier… the pressure makes my thoughts suffer… take this one for example.
I think it’s odd how humanses perceive things… you see what you want to see. I don’t have any examples right now but eventually some time it will happen to you, and you’ll have a great moment of realization. Speaking of realization… it’s really fun; you should try it some time. It’s one of the greatest feelings when you forget what you want to say, but then remember it again.
Over the weekend (11/27/09 to 11/28/09) the American people spent $11,000,000,000.
Slam poetry is one of the coolest things ever. Whenever I watch somebody performing slam poetry, or slamming, I’m just awed. I just think, I wish I could do that, especially when they are improv slamming. It’s so impressive. It would be a pretty sweet talent.
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