Has anyone else noticed that Sarah Palin looks uncannily like Tina Fey?
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Tag: weird
Making a memory
Usher is doing an all ladies tour. “What better way to get up close and personal than to make it all women?”
Apparently, the 29 year old rapper believes that his new CD is very intimate, and in order to get closer to his audience, he thought an all-woman tour would be a good idea. Which seems weird, but hey, it’s Usher. No offense. (Take it. Take offense! Yell at me!)
But the intimacy issue isn’t the only pro of the tour. “The ladies like to see that masculine build,” he said. “They question if I still got it.” So apparently Usher is also questioning his masculinity and wants to be reassured by thousands of woman that he’s attractive, all at the same time. Yeah, read that again. Usher has masculinity issues. So he’s going on an all woman tour. Hm.
He also re-hired his mother as his manager, which suggests that he has fired her before. I’m sorry, but that just made me laugh. almost as hard as the masculinity issues.
When I’m a rock star (yeah, you know it’s coming), I’m gonna go on an all-man tour. and then sing about female issues like periods and childbirth so men and women can get “closer”. It’s like those videos they showed in fifth grade, how they separated the boys and girls and taught them about the other gender and sex. It’ll be like that, except more graphic and not as much about sex since most grown men know what that is.
If you would buy a ticket to my all man concert (ladies, I expect to see you trying to get in with fake beards), let me know and I’ll start scheduling my tour. (I think I’ll start in Greece and make my way around Germany….)
Why Citizen Kane is Not the Best Movie Ever Made
On pretty much any organized list of the greatest movies of all time, Citizen Kane is up there as number one. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, its a 1940s movie about a man the comes up through poverty to be rich but when he dies, his last word is “Rosebud”. A news reporter then tries to piece together his life to find out why he said that. I’m not saying that it’s a bad movie, just that there have been much better movies out there.
So why do I think this? First, the pacing was pretty bad. The 2 hours seemed to add another 1/2 hour because of the way it was told. If a movie is to be considered the greatest, it should at least have a reason to drag out. It also didn’t have AS deep of a meaning as some other movies. Sure, the whole point is good, but it didn’t make you think about the movie to get it, they pretty much explained everything in the dialogue. “Show, don’t tell” is the motto for filmmakers, and Kane didn’t follow it. Finally, none of the movie is the best I’ve ever seen. There’s been better writing in Pulp Fiction, better cinematography (the way a shot looks) in Assassination of Jesse James, better acting in There Will Be Blood, better story in Schindler’s List, and a better meaning in No Country For Old Men.
Still, as a 60 year old movie, Citizen Kane is a good one. But with so many better films today, it doesn’t stand out. Next week I’ll post a blog on my top 5 movies that should be in front of Citizen Kane on any “Best Movies Ever” list.
Are Films an Art?
The definition of art is that it’s “the products of human creativity”, so would you consider (some) movies to be as much of an art as the Mona Lisa? They have as much, or more thought put into them than regular paintings/drawings and require a large group of people to come together to make a masterpiece. Like I said earlier though, I wouldn’t consider ALL movies to be an art since most are just made to entertain, but every year at the Oscars, the academy honors the films that went above and beyond what an entertaining movie does. So what makes the film an art? Well, to me, it’s the combination of not being cliche, having deeper meanings, and bringing every element together perfectly (directing, acting, editing, cinematography, etc.). Some though, don’t have all three. For example, Pulp Fiction doesn’t have a deep meaning, but the rest is done so perfectly that it doesn’t need one. So what do you think? Should all films be considered art, only a few, or none at all?
I don’t need to fall at your feet
So I know that everyone will be talking about this, but we didn’t have a politics blog this week so I’m doing one now.
OMG OBAMA HAS A RUNNING MATE WHEEEEE. My local newspaper dedicated the entire front page to this news, and to “top ten facts about the candidates”. From this article I learned that McCain has a stuffed dancing hamster and Obama’s high school basketball nickname was “O’bomber”. Yeah, I really needed to know that. And haven’t we been a little sensitive about Obama and his religious beliefs for the past couple months? I don’t think learning that he used to be called “O’Bomber” is the best way to get past that… Some people are a bit less open minded than we like to think about.
And the fact that McCain has a dancing hamster is just creepy. And it was NUMBER ONE on the list. Sheesh.
I’m getting pretty sick of this race. My prediction is that it will lean to McCain. I also predict that Voltaire’s reanimated corpse will make an appearance half way through. Dancing with McCain’s stuffed hamster.
…I’m afraid to go to sleep now that I have that vision in my head.
In other news, this is what happens when it’s one in the morning and one of your best friends only lives one house over…
Adventure Captain Pants and Bri. Thaaaat’s right.
Edward Scissorhands Review
When you hear a title like this, what do you think of? A dark bloody horror flick, or at least thats what I thought. This is further backed by my experience with “Sweeny Todd”, another Tim Burton film. So I go in, expecting all this gratuitous blood to be splashed around in my face. Boy was I wrong. Not only does it have little blood, but also barely any swearing. Heck, if I had just checked the rating, it was PG-13, but to me it could have passed as a stronger PG. Man, I really should pay more attention to that kinda stuff so I won’t be looking past the T.V. during the scenes I thought would get intense (I don’t like lots of blood ok? OK?????). Anyhoo…
Again, this movie just blew me away from what I thought it would be, but thats in a good way. I love a movie that will be different and still be able to pull it off. Contrast comes to mind with Burton, since he likes to put bright colors into his movies when there are some darker characters coming into these scenes. I have only seen this done in his movies, and thats why I’ve become a fan of him. The story progresses at a great pace, keeping me entertained through the comedy and drama the whole time. To me, most movies really can’t balance these two elements, they either have too much comedy which will make you not care about the characters, or too much drama which will bore you (an exception to this is if the drama is just excellent). Edward on the other hand pulls off both perfectly. This has to be one of the only movies that has gotten me to tear up (proof of a REAL man, this should make up for my looking away from the screen every so often… right?)
Acting in it was also phenomenal. Johnny Depp has to be one of the more talented actors in Hollywood, seeing as he can pull off a troubled “person” (Scissorhands), a play writer (Finding Neverland), a creepy gothic barber (Sweeny Todd), and a drunk pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean). The rest of the cast play their roles with just as much believability and emotion. This movie has also just confirmed to me that Tim Burton is a genius. With a resume of this movie, “A Nightmare Before Christmas”, and a musical that can make someone who hates them actually stand the singing (Sweeny Todd), he has to be one of the better Directors out there. Would someone please get this guy an Oscar already? The writing is top notch as well, making for some great scenes and comedic situations.
Ok, so was there anything that I didn’t like about this movie? Really the only thing about this that I didn’t think was right was how he ends up with scissors for hands. Now, I don’t want to ruin anything for all of you, but I really have to get this out. If you don’t want for a little bit of the movie to be spoiled (and I mean, its not even a big part of the story) then just go to the next paragraph. Why would an inventor make a human being robot thingy, and then instead of just WAIT to put hands on until he has actual hands, put scissors in the place of them? Couldn’t he have put on carrots or something non lethal instead? Makes NO sense to me…
Other than that though, the whole movie is just everything it should be. Everyone should really see this movie, unless you have something against scissors, hair cuts, hedge trimming, great movies, or Tim Burton. I would have to give Edward Scissorhands… 48/50 Ducks (yes, you read it right, ducks. Amanda, you should know that this will never stop)
Something needs to be addressed….
Ok, so this was my first time on myspace for a while…. I don’t get on much. But whatever. ANYWAYS. Crazy enough, I had forgotten how stupid forwards had gotten. So I’d like to talk about them for a moment.
Here is an example of one I found:
On December 24, 2006 at 8 o’clock in the morning, a young 14 year old boy by the name of Scott Jackson was found dead. Doctors couldn’t come up with the cause of his death. His mother checked his emails to see if she could figure out what happened. Turns out he was still signed into myspace. She found he had gone to sleep after he read and didnt repost a chain letter about a little girl that kills you in your sleep with no natrual cause of death.
This is the bulletin he read:
My name is Jaime Heras. I’m 14 years old. I’m a murderer. I have no face. When you look at me you’ll die immediately.You have 900 seconds to repost this or I will visit you tonight.
Repost this “14yr.
old died havin sex”
I deleted all the spacing in between, because it was freaking annoying.
Ok, smarty pants, let’s think about this a moment:
1. Scott Jackson is obviously a made up name; generic enough to be real
2. As for Ms. Heras, I have a few things….
-If you have no face, how do you post on myspace?
-How did you become “friends” with Mr. Jackson in order to post that bulletin?
-What possible reason would you have to murder people who don’t pass on a message saying you have no face? If they are your “friends” (on myspace), shouldn’t they already know that? Hm…
3. Why 900 seconds? Why not 901? or 899? Or never?
4. As for the title of the post, “14yr old died having sex”, well, that’s just silly. Not only does it have nothing to do with Ms. Heras’ facelessness, but it’s completely unrelated and could be taken as offensive and vulgar. Ms. Heras, if you’re trying to get people to read your message, try something like “free money get sum here”. Or “I SAWZ A PINC DINISORE!” Obviously, throw in some misspellings to make it believable to today’s youth.
Ok, I’m done. But really, if you’re that worried about a random, faceless, middle schooler will kill you, go into therapy. I have never reposted one of these, and as far as I know, I have not died from mysterious causes, nor have I ever had sporatic good luck. Geez.
Is this even possible??
Wow. So I was on this blog reading a post about left handed people, and I was appalled. The link is this <http://iandenny.blogspot.com/2008/02/best-bloggers-are-left-handed.html>
This guy talks about how left handed people are better bloggers. Well, it has been researched that the minority of lefties are generallt more creative, but this guy takes it a little too far. Instead of just relating facts, he goes on to say that lefties are SUPERIOR. I’m a righty, and I’d like to think that I’m pretty darn creative. I appreciate the effort, Ian Denny, but you’re starting to sound a little prejudiced. Just read a reply from him to a commenter that was angry about the post:
I really do feel sorry for right handed people. My left-handed ancestors were ridiculed and social outcasts.
I was hoping for more tolerance of our superior creativity. How can we still be hounded so in this day and age just because we’re paid 15% more and have to bear this cross of superiority?
Sound pompous and prejudiced yet? He also tells us that right-handers are “afflicted” and lefties are “gifted”. But of course, he’s not biased at all. He also says, quote, “And if you are left-handed, I look forward to the intelligence, wit and creativity that will flow through your prosaic words!” when referring to commenters and their blogs.
I left an angry comment. Hee.
Break it down!
Some people (ok, one person) have expressed an interest in how I do my drawings, so I decided to upload all the layers and show you. This is all done in Photoshop Elements 4.0
First I start with a basic skeleton sketch to get an idea of how the girl will be proportioned. This is my first layer.
Next I make a new layer and trace over the skeleton (the new layer is so if I mess up I don’t accidentally erase part of the skeleton) and make my outline. I add details like the hair outline and clothing.
Now I duplicate that layer so, again, if I mess up, the original isn’t damaged, and color it in, adding skin color, hair details, facial features, and patterns to the clothing. This step takes the longest, because I am constantly tweaking the body, shading, and re-drawing things.
This used to be where I stopped, but last night I decided that I wanted her to have a background, so first I just draw a bunch of grey rectangles and use some effects in photoshop to make them look less fake. But it’s still a drawing, so eh. This is also a new layer, so I can place my girl on top of it. Then I draw the sky, which is a new layer as well, this being so I can draw the stars in it without worrying about getting it all over the buildings.
And now we’re done! Click here for the link to the finished drawing.
The Pasta Theory
Recently (ok, today), I’ve noticed something. Something strange. Something ground breaking. Something…. well, you get the picture. And here it is:
I have found a direct correlation between God vs No God arguments and pasta preference.
Yes folks, I sure have. I know you’re all probably shaking your heads right now, but hear me out, ok?
Here is our typical religious argument:
Random Arguer 1: “I believe that there is no God.”
Random Arguer 2: “You’re so wrong, there is too a God. How dare you insult my religion?”
Now, let’s replace the bold faced statements:
Random Arguer 1: “I believe that bowtie pasta is the best.”
Random Arguer 2: “You’re so wrong, linguine is the best. How dare you insult my taste in pasta?”
Uncanny, isn’t it? But keep listening. It all comes down to this: It is an OPINION. Here’s the truth; you cannot prove or disprove God, just like you cannot prove or disprove that linguine pasta is the best, because it’s a matter of opinion. Let’s look at another correlation:
You are Christian, and your friend is an Atheist. So you take your friend to church every Sunday, you read them passages from the Bible, and you attack them at every chance you can with religious quotes and wisdom. There are two outcomes to this: either your friend decides that he wants to convert to Christianity, or they decide to stay being an Atheist and get extremely annoyed.
Let’s change this to pasta again.
You love linguine, and your friend loves bowtie pasta. So every time you go out, you order them linguine, you talk about it all the time, and you list the ways linguine could enhance their lives. There are two outcomes to this: either your friend decides that they like linguine as well and agrees that is is the best pasta, or they decide that they still like bowtie pasta better and get extremely annoyed.
Here’s the moral of this story. Well, actually there are two.
MORAL 1: Atheists and Religious People: STOP ARGUING OVER THE EXISTENCE TO GOD. Neither one of you is going to come out on top, because it is a matter of opinion. I know you’re all going to be mad at me, but listen; an opinion is something that can not be proved and is a personal belief. A FACT is something that can be proved and verified. Both atheism and religion are OPINIONS. So again, stop arguing. It’s like arguing over what pasta is better.
MORAL 2: There are plenty of things theists and non-theists argue about; the validity and interpretation of the Bible, religious and non religious propaganda, and a variety of issues like gay marriage and abortion. But because the base of their arguments is their personal opinion, it all boils down to: Does God exist or not? And again, that can not be proved or disproved, therefore basing arguments off of it doesn’t make any sense. So stop using religion to back up an objective argument, and stop using the basis of non-religion to back up an objective argument. Just… stop….arguing. It’s going to get us no where.
*BONUS* MORAL 3: Bow Tie Pasta is totally better.