Thursday: Leaving for the Poconos

I'm writing a little early tonight because in about an hour I'm leaving for the mountains.  Also, this will be an extremely short post because I'm still trying to fix my computer and I need a lot more time than I have.  So now that means I need to figure out what I'm going to write about tonight... and very quickly.

Alright, let's see about last night's episode of Mythbusters... the one way someone can talk about silence and not be a geek.  I'm serious, when every episode has at least one good explosion that can not be geeky.  And last night's was pretty good, as they were trying to blow holes through armor made completely of paper and see which position in the water would be best for your imminent survival... if say something underneath you were to explode.  The paper armor was actually pretty neat; it somehow managed to stop swords, arrows, and even an old eighteenth-century pistol as well as outperform steel armor.  The explosion thing... well just listen to the Navy and float on top of the water if there's an explosion about to go off underneath you.  You're twice as likely to survive floating instead of treading water.  Really though, the best part were the explosions.

SONG OF THE DAY: THE WRESTLER

I have not seen The Wrestler, and I probably never will.  But this song has grown on me since I heard it... and it pretty much reflects how I feel at the moment.  My computer is still pissing me off.  I'm not going to get any good rest next week.  But hey, I'm going up the Poconos and that fixes everything.  Goodnight, and don't miss me if I don't write.  I might not have any Internet.  For sure, I'll be back on Monday.

Wednesday: In Traction

I'm writing this from my parents' laptop tonight because my computer is currently in traction (hence the title), while it installs a couple pieces of software that are taking a lot longer than they probably should.  And again, that's most likely my fault, but it's been a long time (really only about two months) since I've reformatted.  And I'm relatively happy with myself this time; I only forgot a few screenshots and a couple Firefox bookmarks.  Still, I know you don't want to hear about my crappy day so I'll go into today's main event.


While my computer was reformatting I watched the tail end of Ocean's Eleven, which by itself is a great movie... but then I saw what was on after it and I stayed to watch.  I've wanted to see Up In The Air for a long time, and now that I finally did I can say it was definitely worth the wait.  I'm serious, Avatar did not deserve that Oscar nomination.  Avatar was a dazzling special effects show without any substantial storyline other than one that had been rehashed more times than I can count.  It was like a souped-up Transformers injected with the tale of Pocahontas.  I can't judge on the Hurt Locker, which won that Oscar, because I've never seen it... but from what I've heard it was just a very stunning documentary.  Up In The Air was so much more than a drama-comedy (more drama than comedy), it had a great story and a hilariously arrogant George Clooney as the centerpiece.  There were even a couple tragedies, and in the end... you're not really sure how it ends.  It just stops in a perfect way without any real ending... like life.  In three words, it was a damn good movie.

SONG OF THE DAY: AMONGST THE WAVES

This is a damn good song as well, and it kind of reflects how I feel right now.  It's not really up for contemplation... that would just confuse you.  Just watch it.  Goodnight, and don't send those bedbugs over here.  I want to sleep tonight.

Tuesday: Have I Mentioned How I Hate Technology…?

I’m sorry but I am so pissed off right now that this post will probably be a whole rambling post about how much I hate technology.  Which I really don’t, I mean it makes everything so much easier.  It’s just when it fucks up internally, in a way that’s completely unfixable, at a completely horrible time… that’s when I hate it.  I’ve had a bunch of problems over the last few days and it’s really all I can do right now not to reformat.  That’s really for the book that I’m trying to write, because when I reformat (which I’ve done a few times in the spring) it completely destroys the process.  But sometime next week, after I get back from the mountains, I may be forced to.  My antivirus is malfunctioning like hell, a bunch of my applications are on the fritz… there’s no virus because I've run a bunch of scans but I bet there’s something wrong internally… god this makes me want to punch straight through the monitor!

In other news I’m working a bunch more than I thought I would… and getting paid a lot more than I thought I would… so I guess everything works out in the end right?  I probably have enough money now to pay for any video game or book cravings and still deposit a bunch in the banks.  It feels so good I…  yeah you don’t care.  Sorry for bothering you tonight when I’m obviously off my game… here I’ll give you the song and let you go on your way.

SONG OF THE DAY: LONG WALK HOME

 

Just a beautiful song.  That’s all it is.  A masterpiece.  Now goodnight everyone, and from the way this is looking I may have to do everything from the Mac tomorrow.  It’s reformatting time again…

Monday: Lazy Day 1 (of ∞)

It felt so good to sleep until noon today; I think it’s the first time this summer where I’ve slept for twelve hours straight.  (Do the math if you want).  I also had a really weird dream which involved writing picture books in Spanish class… but then again I did have seafood last night.  And I usually have at least one ‘school’ dream each summer month, so June’s is now out of the way.  So, as you can tell by the title, I did absolutely nothing today.  I played Half-Life 2.  Watched NCIS.  Read Bourne Supremacy.  Played more Half-Life 2.  Ate dinner.  Repeat.  Repeat.  Repeat.

In other words that is my summer… nothing interesting to blog about.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely don’t prefer school… but it does get boring pretty quickly.  This means that I quickly have to think of something to write about…

Oh yeah!  I remember now!  I booted up Steam today and instead of seeing the advertisements I saw a piece of paper that said “First Amendment FTW”.  Naturally I clicked the link, which led to a PDF about a court case that was just decided today.  A Supreme Court case.  About the (you guessed it) the First Amendment and video games.  I didn’t read the whole thing (who could?  It would have taken me days), but the gist was that someone or other living in (of course) California (which recently gave birth to Prop 19 and harbors Schwarzenegger), tried to sue an association of game developers with their goal being that the sale of violent video games be restricted to minors… in other words those under eighteen.  And I know I just shoved a lot into that one sentence… so in layman’s terms “no teenagers get shoot-shoot games.”  The verdict: doing so would violate first amendment rights.  I love that, not because I’m in favor of letting eleven year olds drive around in a virtual world blowing people apart (though I don’t think it’s as bad as everyone else seems to think… I mean you let your eleven year old watch the news right?), but because I hate people who think that the First Amendment is selective.  “Yeah, I can say whatever the fuck I want but you can’t say that if I don’t want you to!”  Freedom of Speech is a blanket law.  It applies to movies, books, music, video games, anything you want and everything you do not.  There are no loopholes.  It’s too simple for there to be any.  And just think… if a bunch of bastards can jeer at a soldier’s funeral then why should video games be any different?  So thank you United States government, for finally doing something right!

SONG OF THE DAY: A MATTER OF TRUST

 

When I have nothing to post, I go to Billy Joel.  I love the music, and the videos are great without any special effects.  Just so you know, the song itself starts at 0:47.  Now goodnight!

Sunday: General Mass

Yes, that title is a pun because it makes what I’m talking about today sound a bit more interesting, and catch anyone who has never played Mass Effect (life me) and thinks that that’s what I’m talking about.  Plus, any over-religious zealots will realize that it’s Sunday and think I’m talking about actual mass.  Many of those zealots also seem to like to make mass generalizations about a certain people or religion… and you guessed it.  It pisses me off so much that I’m going to spend an entire (hopefully short) post talking about how much it irks me.  (So turn away now).

Thankfully (for you) I’m approaching my midnight deadline so this will be pretty quick and painless.  This whole thing started tonight when we (being my family and a couple relatives) were eating dinner at a restaurant.  Somehow, someone got us into politics (which tends to be volatile; if you’ve never seen me and my dad in a political debate… it gets ugly), and we then got to the subject of non-citizenship… which I’d like to point out I think half of my friends probably are.  Now a bunch of facts were messed up, including another nameless person thinking that non-citizens didn’t have to pay taxes (really??).  Personally, there seem to be more perks to being a non-citizen for me… I mean you’ll never get jury duty and the not-voting issue doesn’t seem to be a problem because we Americans can’t seem to get anything right (heard about the senator with that funny last name?).  And just because this is the internet I think I need to tell you that was a joke.  Still, a person (all will remain nameless) seemed to have the idea in their head that non-citizens had a sparkling, glittering life.  This person also thought that the destruction of neighborhoods in Philly and other cities were because of people moving in from other countries without “American ideals.”  That is complete and utter bullshit that seems to be echoed by everyone fleeing these neighborhoods.  More than half, probably more than three-quarters, of the people living in these neighborhoods now are American-born and American-raised.  They, therefore, have the sense of entitlement that all Americans seem to have that says that “I can do whatever the fuck I want because I’m American!  First Amendment bitch!!”  I swear, that must be what goes through these people’s minds.  But really, I’m running away from my point.  That point: we Americans tend to generalize.  A lot.  A whole freaking lot.  We hate an entire race (that, by the way, occupies a sixth of the world’s population) because of the actions of one miniscule group.  I’m not undermining 9/11 in any way.  I’m just saying that it’s time to move on America.  Stop reinventing the Japanese detainment camps (I won’t say concentration camps even though that’s really what they were) during World War II.  You were wrong then and it’s one of the largest black marks on our country’s short history.  If that happens again that mark will be much bigger.  Also, Americans (especially ones who watch / broadcast on Fox News), seem to view all immigrants as outsiders and also seem to believe that this country would be better off if those people returned to their respective countries.  By generalizing in that way, they overlook the fact that these people (a lot of whom I know) make up a large amount of the top of America’s classes).  They don’t have that sense of entitlement that seems to be present in ninety-eight percent of American teenagers (me included, albeit only sometimes) that says they are to be given everything that their country has to offer.  These immigrants enrich America far more than our own overall lazy and enabled youth… which is also why we’re last in the world when we used to be first.  The only problem is that we still think we’re first.

SONG OF THE DAY: AMERICAN IDIOT

 

I know you have all heard this before, but it’s fitting.  Because we all seem to be American idiots.  And we need to stop.  Before our own assumed superiority in the world and the thought that we can do whatever we want to whomever we want can destroy one of the most babylike nations on Earth.  In other news, I made my deadline by roughly a minute.  The challenge goes on.  Let’s take a twenty-three and a half-hour break, see you (figuratively) tomorrow.

Saturday: (No Title)

I seriously could not think of a title today, so I’m going with the most creative thing I could think of for my forty-fourth post.  And yeah, I still can’t believe I’ve been doing this every day for over six weeks.  Just a warning to my three or so readers, there may be a break this weekend.  Wi-Fi signals are pretty shoddy up in the Poconos at my grandparents’ house; there are usually two but sometimes they fade out for hours at a time.  So if I miss a post between Friday and Monday it’s not because I didn’t write one.  It’s because my internet connection was down.  So Anthony, we call that an act of God and your daily blogging challenge is still on.

Now for the first day in this week where I was able to sleep until eleven, today was pretty boring as a whole.  That is, it would be boring for you.  Sleeping felt so good that I decided to be lazy for a while and (typically) play Half-Life 2.  Then I realized that I really (REALLY) wanted to start the next part of my book tonight and edited the rest of Part One to my satisfaction… and then posted to YWS.  So here are the two links to the two segments if you have a free half-hour in the next few days.  (Which, Anthony, after summer stage ends, I know you will have).

Chapters 1 – 9: http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic83225.html

Chapters 10 – 13: http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic83226.html

Ironically, they’re both about the same length, with the second part being just a little shorter.  Now because I also have nothing to write about tonight and I need to wake up tomorrow… I’ll go to the song.  Two things: don’t let the first f-bomb deter you.  Also, it’s only five minutes long.  The last three are just the band talking because this video is from a special album.

SONG OF THE DAY: HOLIDAY

 

I realize I could wait for the fourth of July to post this song as a little ironic touch, but my annoyance at America is at a pretty big high right now so I guess I’ll just post that ‘other’ Green Day song on Independence Day.  You know which one I’m talking about…

Now I’m tired and literally have nothing left, so aloha.  (I’m not sure how to say goodnight in Hawaiian).

Friday: Return to Normal

So all my computer problems have been neutralized effectively without a reformat, which was my overall goal.  I was looking forward to writing my book all summer and a few days without work (which is pretty much guaranteed by a reformat) completely messes me up.  Now I’ll be done the preliminary edits for Part One in a day or two, and then it’ll be posted on YWS.  I’ll probably link then, just to see if I can drum up some reviews, but I’m not hoping for much.

But anyway, moving on from my book, today was a pretty good day.  Yeah, I’m exhausted now, and I have to work Saturday night and Sunday this weekend… not to mention Tuesday morning, but it’s summer and I really don’t care if I’m getting over a hundred bucks in four days time.  We ended Vacation Bible School today with the usual, the party with the doughnuts and cupcakes and all kinds of good stuff and the sing-a-long with all the kids.  And really, it feels stupid all week to do all of those dances… but it is worth it.  (Which I rediscover every year because it’s just long enough apart to forget).  Now after that I spent an afternoon to myself, getting my Half-Life 2 fix I was missing from my computer being out-of-commission yesterday and then working on the edits for about an hour.  After that I took about an hour and a half to watch the premiere of Suits (USA Network) and eat pizza and hot wings.  The former was really good and surprisingly funny, not to mention that Harvey Specter reminds me of a strange, somewhat-magnified Anthony.  The latter was pretty good, but needed some blue cheese dressing to get over the dryness.  Finally, before going out for gelato (desert of the gods), I watched Date Night.  (What can I say, they force-feed us Tina Fey at Upper Darby).  It was pretty good, and some parts were so funny that I was literally rolling on the couch with laughter.  And it’s surprising that Mark Wahlberg can actually be funny, but he can.  Steve Carell, as always, was hilarious.  And yeah… they force-feed us Tina Fey for a good reason.  So that was my day, as if you cared.  Now let’s go to the song, which I haven’t even picked yet… (I’m thinking as I type).

SONG OF THE DAY: THE ADVENTURE

 

Probably the most awesome song that you’ve never heard of… and pretty damn catchy too.  Now I’ve got to go, part of the whole exhaustion thing I think I mentioned.  Goodnight.

Thursday: I Hate Technology

Funny.  Yesterday's rant would have been better suited for today, but then again it might not have worked because Microsoft tech support just royally fucked up my laptop.  I can't believe I might have to reformat this piece of crap again; I mean I thought I was done with that shit like a year ago.  It completely ruins whatever I was writing, destroys my week, pretty much drives a nail through everything I try to do.  I'm blogging from my Mac right now, the one I haven't used in two years, and right now I'm really starting to wonder if any of you who love your PCs so much have ever actually used a Mac not provided by a school.  Apple is so much better than Microsoft that I can't even describe it in light years.  Seriously.  So shut up about your precious PCs already, you make me sick.

Alright, thankfully I don't have much lying around today because I haven't even been able to go on the Internet, play Half-Life 2, write, or really any thing I was planning on using this afternoon for.  The only good thing about today was that I was able to clear some space off of the DVR and watch Quantum of Solace.  Good movie.  Not as good as Casino Royale, but of course nothing is ever really as good as its predecessor.  Characters good.  Story good.  Everything good.  I really have nothing to say.  Even about Tuesday's Covert Affairs, which I was planning to talk about.  It completely slipped out of my head because of all of this shit with my computer.  I really hate technology.  But then again technology did give us an easy way to share music, which I will demonstrate now.  (Warning: there are about twenty f-bombs.  It really reflects my mood today).

SONG OF THE DAY: HORSESHOES AND HANDGRENADES

And there you go.  My day in a nutshell.  Right now the only thing I want is a shower and a bed, and oh yeah, for my PC to do what I paid for it to do and WORK.  Goodnight tools.

Wednesday: Step Aside

No daily recap.  No commentary on Covert Affairs (that’s tomorrow Anthony).  I’ll give you a song, but only because it’s become too much of a tradition for good old OCD me to skip.  I feel like venting, and after all isn’t that what this piece of junk is for?  Isn't that really what the Internet is for?  Throwing your shit out in a high-tech wasteland where no one will ever care enough to find it?

Starting is always the hardest part, because you need to get something flowing.  And as it’s been roughly eight hours since I really needed to rant I need to stir that up.  And I think that sentence spurt did the trick.  Now, everyone knows I’m probably the most insecure person they’ll ever meet, because I really can’t stand being disliked by too many people.  I don’t know if that comes with the whole OCD package (my guess is that it does), but so far I’ve really been pretty good to everyone I’ve met… or at least if I haven’t no one has let me know about it.  I care so much about how everyone else feels that I think I sometimes care a little too little about how I feel.  I’m apparently such a nice guy (others words, not mine, believe me), that I stop caring about what I’m feeling in interest for everyone else.  Now I know that doesn’t sound like me, the sarcastic, anything-goes, somewhat scathing when-I-want-to-be me, but think about it.  Have I ever really hurt you?  Really?  Because if not, I’d like to let you know that I could if I wanted to, and I could think of a million different ways.  ………  Now forget about that.  Because I never would.  I’m just that kind of person that would never intentionally hurt someone.  And people tell me that’s a good thing, and really until now it felt like that was true.  What’s pissing me off right now (think eight hours ago) is that the one time I unintentionally manage to hurt someone, another completely unhurt person who has no business with me whatsoever tries to tell me how to live my fucking life.  I know I can’t take a joke, everyone knows that, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t a joke.  Three months is a long time for a joke.  And in those three months the person I really did unintentionally hurt has healed whatever needed to heal and we’re practically best friends again.  I’d trust this person with my life okay.  That’s how close we are.  Yet the other one still seems to think that the world is exactly the same as reality TV where if two people break up, they can never do anything but scream at each other for the rest of their apparently-miserable lives.  And I have a message for you: GET OVER YOURSELF!  You’re not the guardian okay?  And you have no business telling me what to fucking do after I’ve really done nothing but what a normal person does ten times in their teenage life.  Get with the program kid.  This ain’t the fucking real world yet, where there will REALLY be things that hurt.

SONG OF THE FUCKING DAY: SATELLITE

 

So anyone that doesn’t like what was just typed can go take a hike.  Preferably off of a cliff.  Over an alligator infested river.  Filled with radioactive waste.  I really don’t care.

Tuesday: Summer Begins (Officially)

Everyone knows the unofficial start of summer is the day school let’s out, as soon as you walk out of the June heat into your (hopefully) air-conditioned house.  But today is the actual start of summer, June 21st, more collectively known as Summer Solstice.  And coincidentally, today is also my fortieth post.  That is actually big, because I think now that makes more posts on Internet Junk than all of my three old categorized blogs combined.  Also, I just proved that I can commit to something… I’ve posted every day for forty days, even when I once had seven minutes until midnight to write the post.

The sad part is that I really do not have much to write about today, and I was actually hoping to do something memorable!  I didn’t have time for a movie (I was too busy being my geeky self and playing Half-Life 2), and there were no really funny moments this morning because instead of goofing off at VBS I was working a funeral across the parking lot.  I’m not saying that wasn’t interesting in itself, or that reading Jason Bourne to the background music of funeral bells didn’t have it’s own mystique, but it sure wasn’t getting laugh-drunk while dancing to really whacky songs.  Oh yeah, and my computer crashed about five times.  Damn PCs…

Oh yeah, and just in case you didn’t realize it, being OCD sucks.  Royally.  Because even though I’m perfectly organized (really because I’d go crazy if I wasn’t… case and point), every time someone brings up one of my things that I’d lost or someone else had lost even five years in the past, I get all dreary and gloomy because I need that lost thing back.  I’m serious.  It drives you crazy.  Now let’s go to commercial.

SONG OF THE DAY: VIOLET HILL

 

I’ve been keeping this one on the back burner for a while, and hopefully it’ll pull up my terrible post.  This is probably the best song that you’ve never heard of, and if you have then that means you’re ahead in life.  Listen.  Or watch.  Whatever you like.  Ciao…

Monday: Return to Reality

I feel both happy and sad at the same time, because today was the first day in a week I did not play Portal 2.  I guess that’s a step in the right direction for me socially, but it was just so fun while it lasted… well all good things must come to an end.  And now I have Half-Life 2, plus both Episodes… really I just bought The Orange Box.  So hopefully that will keep me occupied for the rest of the summer.

Alright, no more video game talk.  Promise.  Now today was the first day of Vacation Bible School at my church this year, which I’ve helped with every year it’s been run.  So really, this is my third year.  And like both other years I’m helping with music, with a best friend and another sort-of-friend (love-hate relationship, with a large dash of annoyance)… and now my sister.  So that was fun; doing dances for a bunch of Pre-K to 4th Graders which make you feel both incredibly stupid and funny at the same time.  This lasts for the entire week (though I won’t be there tomorrow), and I’ll probably write about anything funny on here.  So be warned.

Then tonight I had the monthly bookworm convention, also known as teen book club at my library.  As always it was pretty funny, especially because they scheduled a little-kids musical event that night and our room is definitely not soundproofed.  Connect the dots.  Also, I got to see both people I spent the morning with… as I said: funny.  And Anthony, you will be there next time.  And I do have you book.  And yeah, this one looks pretty cool.  Now I will stop my daily geek session and give you the song.  Guess what?  More U2.

SONG OF THE DAY: CITY OF BLINDING LIGHTS

 

I think I posted this once before, but this is definitely my favorite U2 song… and one of my all-time favorites.  This version is great too, it’s a little different sounding live than on the recorded version, but it still sounds great either way.  It’s just an amazing song, and a great way to end a day.  Goodnight all, and thanks for reading!

Sunday: Still Alive

First and foremost, I’d just like to say Happy Fathers Day.

Now that I’ve said the most important thing I needed to say today, I’ll get into the prelude to my narration of how awesome Portal 2 was… so if you’re video game intolerant I suggest you leave now.

That prelude involves the episode of Covert Affairs I probably should have talked about on Wednesday, but I’ve actually had topics since then.  Now, the only problem is that I’ve forgotten most of it.  All I can say is that I liked it quite a lot more than the season premiere, probably due to the lack of annoying backstory, and I’m recording the series.  The best character has to be Auggie, I just unconditionally love any blind character.  They’re always really deep and just… awesome.  Other than that the rest of the characters are good… not NCIS worthy but good.  And it is definitely better than SVU… just saying.

Now for the main event.  A hole was just both filled and emptied in my soul, a hole about the size of Portal 2.  I beat it, and it was probably the most bittersweet ending to anything (video game, book, movie, et cetera.) I will ever see.  The game’s ending itself was genius, and the final battle was even more mind-twistingly brilliant and simple than the first Portal.  And the moon… that was just perfect.  This game was a full out action – puzzle – comedy, and probably one of the best you or I will ever see.

But then Valve couldn’t leave it there… they go into epilogue mode.  And this also must have been the best epilogue I’ve ever seen.  (Spoilers coming, be warned!)  GLaDOS finds her conscience and promptly deletes it, then lets you go because it’s easier than trying to kill you.  You ride an elevator though a hall of singing turrets, and then emerge into a wheat field followed by a special friend you supposedly incinerated in the original Portal.  Of course there are the end credits, and a song that, while not measuring up to Still Alive, is great in it’s own techno-poppy way.  Finally there’s Wheatley, floating all alone in space… supposedly regretting trying to kill you.  It should have been impossible to make a perfect ending to a more than perfect game (not to mention making that more than perfect game from the perfect original), but they did.  I’m sad that it’s over.  I’m serious, I think I teared up a bit.  And I don’t think I even want a sequel, that’s how wonderfully perfect this was.  A masterpiece.

Now to compound it all, and take Anthony’s request that I not string three days of U2 in a row, I will present to you all three songs from the Portal franchise.  The first is definitely the best, but the second is still great, and the third is incomparable in it’s unique awesomeness.

SONG(S) OF THE DAY: STILL ALIVE, WANT YOU GONE, AND THE TURRET OPERA

 

 

 

And now, before I expose my geekiness any further (who am I kidding, I already have), I’ll say goodbye.  And I promise this will be the last time I ever talk about Portal… or Portal 2… or any video game whatsoever.  Or at least make a whole post about them.  Alright, no promises.  Who am I kidding, I probably will.  Oh well… goodnight.

Saturday: Vampires Really Do (Awesomely) Suck

Alright, I know I get no props for the title.  I’m just trying to see how bad something can be before it turns good, in honor of probably the worst yet funniest movie I’ve ever seen.  And I think you can probably guess what it is…

I’ve been a Twilight hater from the beginning, even after I actually did read the book over last winter break (Yeah, I know.  Relax, my manhood was gone anyway), and thought that it probably wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever read.  So, I unconditionally love anything that spoofs Twilight in any way.  And even though everyone told me that this movie was horrible, I still watched it.  And I will probably live longer now that I’ve laughed so much.

I’m serious, it’s no great cinematic feat, but it was never meant to be!  It was meant to be a Twilight spoof, and in that sense it was amazing!  Jacob turns into a Chihuahua… that in itself was ridiculously funny, nevermind his werewolf buddies dancing after that.  Then Edward looks like he’s running through the woods when he’s really riding a Segway (which, I will note, I’ve always wanted).  Then there’s the fake Bella mace-ing her dad, then there’s the dad from Wizards of Waverly Place (my sister watches a lot of Disney, don’t judge me), punching one of the other vampires in the face.  Then there’s the prom, and Edward sparkling… and the disco ball (just watch the first minute), and then the endlessly perfect spoofing of Kristen Stewart.  Finally, of course, there are the thousand or so epic quotes.

“I know what you are. You're a pale white, you dress fashionably, and you abstain from sex. I know what you are.” – “Say it, out loud.” – “A Jonas Brother!”

And then there’s probably one of the best I’ve ever heard:

"They are the evil blood suckers who only care about themselves and their own narrow vision of the world. They're kind of like Fox News."

I mean… that is comedic genius right there.  And yeah, all you critics who panned this movie as unfunny and coarse… think again.  You’re missing the big picture.  It wasn’t supposed to win an Academy Award, as you assume is the goal of most movies.  It was meant to send people crawling from the theater, clutching their gut from laughing too hard.  Great success.

SONG OF THE DAY: MYSTERIOUS WAYS

 

Now, I know this music video looks like an acid trip, but the song is amazing.  I’m serious.  I still don’t know most of the verses, but I love it anyway.  Just something about the guitar… but anyway just listen to it.

And look at that.  I need to have a free spot sometime in the next three days for last weeks Covert Affairs.  Either that or I’ll cram it in with the new one on Wednesday.  Because I still have MacGruber, Quantum of Solace, and The Lovely Bones waiting on the DVR.  Needless to say, these posts won’t be getting any shorter.  Goodnight all.

Friday: Because it’s …

This was literally the first Friday I did not have Friday playing through my head, probably because this was the first non-school Friday of the summer.  And speaking of that, I still can’t believe it’s summer.  It’s hot, smoking hot even, but it just doesn’t have that summer feel I get at the beginning every year.  But I know you don’t want to hear about that, so I’ll get into my short daily narrative.

There is one sign of summer though, waking up between eleven and one on a weekday.  That is obviously the best part of every non-school day, and after nine months of six o'clock alarms this really is refreshing.  The only times I’m going to need to wake up this summer are for my job, once every other week, and then when I volunteer for one or two weeks.  The other seven… bliss.  And Portal 2.

The first event today involved volunteering at a church / summer camp, so I’ll skip that and jump straight to the second.  Congratulations Alyssa, first for graduating and secondly for having a great party.  Even with the family around it was fun, and I even met an Upper Darby alum who graduated in ‘53.  Funnily enough, they still had the same school song back then… but they had actual uniforms for gym.  (And I’m worried about having only a semester).  Oh, and thanks to wherever the fried chicken was bought, that was the best I’ve ever had outside of KFC.  And now for the song.

SONG OF THE DAY: VERTIGO

 

I didn’t have anything new today, so I decided to go with an old favorite.  (It’s not that old though, only ‘04).  Hands down, The Edge is one of the best guitarists ever, and this song has one of the best guitar tracks I’ve ever heard.  You’ll enjoy it.  You probably won’t understand it… but you’ll enjoy it.  (Oh, and in the Spanish, Bono says 1, 2, 3, 14).

Now tomorrow I need to think of something good… probably just a review of either Quantum of Solace or Vampires Suck.  Oh, and I still need to talk about this week’s Covert Affairs.  Whatever.  Really, I recommend skipping the weekend entirely because on Monday I will have something fun.  Now goodnight, before I fall asleep in front of the computer.

Thursday: Pure, Epic Laziness

See?  Didn’t I say that it’s completely impossible for me to have THREE interesting days in a row?  Huh?  That’s what I thought.  Now treat yourselves to a hopefully short, perfectly normal post by an obsessed geek who just got his hands on Portal 2 and didn’t really have time for much else today.

So, in keeping with that theme, you already know I got Portal 2.  And even though I probably already told you to buy it… I will say it again.  Buy the damn video game.  I swear, even if you’re a football player with ripped muscles, a supermodel girlfriend, and a Mustang with unlimited gas you will still waste countless hours playing this game.  This is actual mental-stimulation without the ‘I-want-to-die’ effect of a year of school… you won’t even know it’s happening as you twist time (not exactly) and space.  Also, this is worth more laughs than a yearlong marathon of South Park, Family Guy, and bad Disney movies combined… I mean this video game… I can’t even explain how it somehow manages to choke out a laugh every time you expressively DON’T expect one.  You’re going along on a perfectly mediocre level, then the computer says something ridiculously funny out of the blue and cue you laughing your ass off in front of the monitor. 

Okay, I’m done.  Promise.  That’s enough geeking out for the day… although I will probably do it again tomorrow.  So be prepared.

Now, besides Ranier and I wasting about an hour unsuccessfully trying to play Half-Life on multiplayer… today was rather boring.  Which leaves a perfect opening for this little link:

http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/novel.php?id=1523

And this one:

http://www.youngwriterssociety.com/topic82626.html

I am never going to post a link to the novel I’m trying to write on facebook, but the people who inexplicably care enough to come here via facebook every day may enjoy some more writing.  Seriously, I’m happy that people read this… but sometimes I do wonder why.  My life definitely isn’t that interesting.  But anyway, I promise the novel is much more interesting than this blog, so you should DEFINITELY click on it and read.  And Anthony, that means you.  Incidentally, the novel is the first link.  The second link leads to a narrative poem I wrote kind of on a whim last night, which already has four good reviews.  It’s quite a bit shorter than the novel… so you might find it more economical to check it out.  Now onto the song.

SONG OF THE DAY: DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS

 

Epic Owl City.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Enjoy my hypnotized readers, and goodnight.

Wednesday: A Sky Full of Lighters

I promise this will never happen again.  No two consecutive summer days will actually be eventful ever again.  Ever.  I’m completely sure.  So enjoy these two days.

First, I worked a funeral today.  It wasn’t bad at all, really just two hours of sitting around and about a half-hour before and after of setting up and cleaning up.  That candle though, I swear it almost dislocated my shoulder!  But anyway the real fun happened after, when I went to the Rectory for the person who was supposed to give me a ride home and she instead put me to work for an hour stapling packets together with this really nifty electric stapler.  Then of course they’re having a problem with their email… actually a pretty large problem involving 12,000 emails that appeared in it overnight from a virus.  Now they’re trying to delete them twenty messages at a time, until I finally figure out how to set the number of messages to something more manageable.  Say: 500.  It worked pretty well.

So then after I eventually do get my ride I come home to a Phillies doubleheader, an NCIS marathon, and the allure of Portal 2.  I eventually decide on listening to the Phils on the radio while playing through Portal 2 (the marathon wasn’t until five), which also worked out rather well.  And I’m serious, if you have any love of either puzzles or black humor whatsoever, you need to get this game.  It’s funnier than most episodes of Saturday Night Live.  The good episodes too.  And that is the highest praise I can give.

Later, after I’ve played through a few chapters and satisfied my Portal addiction for the day, I settle down for the second Phillies game preceded by a few hours of NCIS marathon.  Great episodes too, especially one with a really creepy old lady who chopped a guy apart in her barn and then almost got away with it… and then of course there’s the one with Kyle Boone.  You get a huge insight into Gibbs and it is still a really entertaining episode.  If you aren’t already… watch NCIS.  I promise, you will not be disappointed.

Finally came the second Phillies game, which I sadly missed the most of for a few reasons too boring to recount.  Still, the tenth inning was what really needed to be seen, with Ruiz’s walk-off where the center-fielder for the Marlines tried to throw to home plate with the ball lying on the grass.  That’ll be on the highlight reel for a while to come.

SONG OF THE DAY: LIGHTERS

 

Bruno Mars and Eminem, a combination made in either heaven and hell… still not sure which.  The bottom line is that it’s an amazing song, and reminds me a little of Airplanes.  Listen to it.  And yes Anthony, I mean you.  And I actually improved on my time from last night… it’s only twenty minutes to midnight instead of seven.  Adios until tomorrow, and hold up those lights.

Tuesday: Rain Delays and Video Games

Well for the first official day of summer, today actually turned out to be surprisingly interesting.  First things first, congratulations to my little sister who graduated fifth grade while also winning the biggest and best award possible.  So Rachael, I know you think you have a lot to live up to, but you’re doing amazing in your own right.  Keep it up.

And then when we got home the inner geek in me rejoiced as I finally got Portal 2, which even at its start promised to be an awesome and hilarious game.  And then, the second time I load up, the sound goes loopy and the screen goes black.  And as always, my OCD side and geek side combine to waste four hours of my life trawling through Steam forums for a solution to a problem that, apparently, about half the people who bought the game, experienced.  I finally found a fix, and had just started to play again when Ranier called and asked me if I wanted their extra ticket for the Phillies game tonight.  And of course, I said yes.

So then we arrive at said Phillies game, and as soon as we walk in the sky opens up and begins to pour.  Naturally, we run (or walk quickly) for cover while picking up hot dogs and soda along the way.  Then after eating that food on our makeshift table (a trashcan lid), Ranier decides he wants some crabfries.  Of course, we walk down five flights of stairs, wait in a completely uncovered line, get drenched in the process, and then end up with two awesome buckets of spicy seasoned fries and a cup of ridiculously expensive cheese to eat back on our trashcan lid table.  And the game hadn’t even started yet!

So then finally the game does start, and right off the bat (like what I did there) Cole Hamels give up a run.  We’re groaning, thinking he’s going to implode like he does about once a month, but then watch in awe as he mows through the next six innings before he strains his back and gets pulled as we’re leaving.  Meanwhile, we also witness probably the first five homerun game of the year.  Utley probably got the loudest cheers for his, as he is the all-powerful Chase Utley, but Howard was close behind.  Even Rollins managed to jack one, and then Domonic Brown finishes the show by hitting not one but two homers… one of them just below us into the second deck!  Final score: Phillies 9, Marlins 1.

SONG OF THE DAY: DANCING IN THE DARK

 

I know this song is from the late 70s, but that doesn’t make it any less awesome.  Funny coincidence though, I was listening to this on loop all day while I was trying to fix Portal 2 (which was oddly appropriate), and then it played during the baseball game.  In the end, it was really the only song I could have put up today.  Now I need some summer sleep, and please don’t expect me to be this interesting (that is, if I am) every day this summer.  Besides, expectations always make something seem much worse than it actually is.  Now with seven minutes left to June 15th, I say goodnight.

Monday: Summer! (And Mavericks)

Worst case scenario: I have an allergy attack the day before the Spanish final (which also happens to be a Monday when half the school doesn’t need to come in), wake up with a runny nose, have the bus come a half hour late, and then… of course… the Spanish final itself.  The good part: I actually think I did pretty well.  It’s weird, when I’m sick I actually do better… wonder if there’s something in that.

But anyway, again I’m going to say that it’s been a great year.  I’m even almost-sad that it’s over.  The only thing I won’t miss whatsoever will be the six o’clock alarms and cereal every morning… but even that was (maybe) worth it for the good times.  And I hope I see everyone again next year.

Now that that’s done I’ll get to the main point, which is that the Dallas Mavericks just obliterated the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.  First, give some recognition to the Mavs… they won for a reason.  It wasn’t because the Heat choked, it was because Dallas played as a TEAM, and I thought that a TEAM was what was supposed to win.  Not two superstars, a minor star, and a bunch of nobodies.  And it seems like even after winning his championship Dirk can’t go away unscathed… David Stern mispronounced his name when giving him the trophy.  I mean REALLY?  You’re the commissioner!  You’ve heard his name a million times!  Don’t use the teleprompter Stern, the ‘W’ is pronounced like a ‘V’.  Say it with me: Novitzki.  And then there’s LeBron, crying like the big baby he is, trying to tell the rest of America to go back to living their mediocre lives while he sits in Vegas clubs during the offseason, drinking martinis.  Again, REALLY?  This guy must be the biggest, hairiest, most-tattooed twelve-year-old I’ve ever heard… and that’s an insult to twelve-year-olds everywhere.  Hey LeBron, get some toughness to go with that talent and you may win your one ring someday.  You were mocking Dirk for being sick during Game 4 and he whupped your sorry eight-point ass, now the rest of America is going to do the same.  Good luck once those talents fade, because there is nowhere you’ll be able to go.  You’re not the King.  You will never be Jordan.  You will never even be Pippen.  Hell, you’re not even the best player on your team.  Here’s some advice LeBron, why don’t YOU get a life worth living.

SONG OF THE DAY: BEAT IT

 

I know you’ve all heard this before, but it just seemed so appropriate.  And it’s weird sometimes how Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson have the same initials (even their middle names match up).  And LeBron, you will never be as successful as either MJ.  Your entire team combined has less fans that a tenth of theirs.  Goodnight Internet, and go Mavericks!

Sunday: Yard Sale Art

Finally!  An interesting day!  And even though I’m sick as a sewer dog right now I’m going to make sure you hear all about it… it helps take my mind off of my Spanish final tomorrow and how I’m going to have to do it with a nose running like the Mississippi.

Alright, so first things first Anthony told me he was having a yard sale today, and being the cheap Catholic that I am I went.  Of course we ended up playing Brawl and Mario Kart on his Wii for more time than we spent outside, in what felt like ninety percent humidity on his old couches that they were trying to sell… Anyway he destroyed me at Brawl and I destroyed him at Mario Kart.  See Anthony?  I admitted that you beat me at something!  That should make you happy.  But anyway then I actually did buy something.  I got two books, one of which I read already and the other of which I was supposed to read back in 6th grade.  Also, I bought a pocketwatch.  Yeah.  A pocketwatch.  Don’t judge me, it’s actually pretty neat… and that’s besides the fact that I’ve always wanted one.  Now all I have to do is find a chain…

So then after sitting out there in his histamine-infested yard for an hour (which is now biting me in several different places), my family and I drove down to the Barnes House in Lower Merion where a guy named Dr. Albert Barnes collected hundreds of works of art.  However it’s not the art itself that’s amazing (though a lot of it is really cool), it’s the placement.  Dr. Barnes placed every painting and sculpture in a pattern of some sort, or in a way that would be symbolic.  My favorite part wasn’t the art itself though, it was the metal pieces hung on the walls in between and around the art.  They were organized in a weird sort of broken symmetry, where one side has just one minute difference from the other.  And being OCD, usually that kind of thing really annoys me, but here it was actually fascinating.  To think that someone actually took the time to collect all of those things and place them in that special way, wow.

Now that I’m done with my rambling, I think I said something about the Hunger Games movie a few weeks ago.  Since then they’ve cast Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, which is odd seeing as he has no acting experience whatsoever and that’s a pretty big role.  Still, he is a pretty famous musician so I decided to listen to some songs.  Turns out I recognized almost all of them, I just never knew this was him.  Anyway here’s one of them, which I guarantee you’ve heard at some point in your life.

SONG OF THE DAY: ARE YOU GONNA GO MY WAY

 

I like it.  And like I said before, I’m actually starting to look forward to this movie.  Hopefully they can pull another Harry Potter and make a great movie out of a great book.  Now I will leave you in peace, more for my sake then for yours.  And just so all of you that DON’T have a final tomorrow know… I hate you with all that is left of my coughing, sneezing heart.

Saturday: Holes

I was worried that I wouldn’t have anything to write about today, but as always it worked itself out in the form of a movie I watched probably five years ago.  I’m pretty sure everyone has seen Holes, and most of the people who I asked said that they liked it.  Now, that by itself proves my point that it is possible to like a movie that stars Shia LaBeouf… made even better because Holes was the DEBUT of Shia LaBeouf.  And really, people, what is so bad about Shia LaBeouf?  I like the guy, he’s a decent actor and just gets a really bad rap for some reason or other.  But anyway I was talking about Holes, which was probably so good because the storyline was convoluted almost to the point of cheesiness… yet everything just worked.  Everything fits together like a perfect puzzle and nothing is left out.  Besides the fact that it has John Voight, who is awesome, Tim Blake Nelson, who is also awesome, and Sigourney Weaver, who is thirdly awesome.  Did I mention they’re the bad guys?  And then don’t get me started on the lizards…

Ok, I’ve actually watched two movies today and the other one deserves mention too.  Spaceballs as a name definitely gives high expectations, and this movie is pretty damn funny.  The only thing is that you have to watch Star Wars first to get it… so Anthony don’t even think about it.

Other than that this was a slow day, so I’ll wrap it up.

SONG OF THE DAY: AMISH PARADISE

Bruno Mars Mania is over, as Anthony finally listened to The Lazy Song.  So enjoy some Weird Al, and for your information, all you people saying it’s summer… the last time I checked summer begins on June 21st.  Sayonara.

Friday: T - Minus Two Hours… on Monday

Alright, all you people without a Block 3 final SHUT UP!  Just SHUT UP!  I don’t care how you all had your last day today and I have to wake up at six o’clock on Monday to go take a damn Spanish final.  Cue voice: ‘Remember, Spanish hell is a real place-”  SHUT UP!!

Alright, now that that’s out of my system I can get on with the day’s post.  And that is really about how ridiculously easy that English final was.  Besides the fact that it was 110 questions long, that was basically a refresher test.  There was maybe one question that required even a shred of thought and that was because the wording was so bad.  Anyway, the essay took as long as the entire test, so that should give you an idea.  And I’m sorry if you found it hard… but this is my blog.  My space.  And the server is in America so technically I have freedom of speech... even though this is the Internet and you can really say anything you want.

Other than that there was nothing memorable about this day whatsoever, which brings up another problem with summer.  How am I supposed to keep this thing interesting over about eighty days of inactivity?  There’ll be a few vacation days, and then I’ll probably do some TV show commentary every once in a while… but other than that I’m going to need some help.

SONG OF THE DAY: THE LAZY SONG

This was a request, and Anthony you had better listen to this one.  I’m telling you, this song is you to the very core.  It personifies you perfectly.  This is a testament to procrastinators everywhere, as well a happy reminder that I’m not one of them.  Goodnight, and I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer.

Thursday: Let’s Just Get This Over With…

So Algebra hell turned out only to be Algebra purgatory, for me at least.  The test itself wasn’t actually that hard, it’s just ridiculously time consuming to do fifty problems, twelve short answers, and then a rubric problem all in a two-hour limit.  I was actually probably one of the first to finish, and that was with about five minutes left.  Half the class didn’t finish at all.

And then Biology was surprisingly easy, at least to the people who chanted ‘Group Fail!’ before the test began.  Our teacher, probably on purpose, told us that there were about a hundred more questions than there actually were, and that was a bit of a relief.  The eighty-or-so multiple choice left over were pretty easy, and the short answers were all various ones pulled from unit tests throughout the year.  Overall it was a bit of a relief in the end, and I realized that Algebra is over forever… and I have a whole year before the true hell that is Trigonometry.  Oh well.  I’d better enjoy Sophomore year.

And then on finals days we get out at 11:45 instead of the usual 2:41, so I had a whole afternoon to do absolutely nothing.  So naturally I watched the season premiere of Covert Affairs, and I’ve got to say it wasn’t quite as good as I was hoping for.  I’m still wondering whether I should tape the next episode, and I probably will just to have something to do on random summer Tuesdays.  All in all it wasn’t a bad show, but really it’s just not quite as funny or suspenseful as I’d hoped (even though I do love blind characters, they’re always the best).  I guess nothing really measures up to NCIS…

SONG OF THE DAY: LIQUOR STORE BLUES

 

And so commences Day Four of Bruno Mars Mania.  Anthony, until you admit to me that you’ve watched at least one of these videos I will keep going until I have exhausted every possible option.  Plus, this one has Bob Marley’s son in it.  In other words, just watch the damn video!  Now I’ve got to go study for English… or in reality just listen to songs in English and type words in English because that’s about as close to studying for English as I ever get.  Goodnight Internet.  And for god’s sake, I’m getting eighteen or so hits a day… will one of you just click the damn follow button!!

Wednesday: Pseudo-Summer Begins

I know, finals are still for the next two or three days, but being that today was the last real day of school (God, if feels weird to say that.  I don’t think it hit me yet), there are some things I need to say:

Thanks everyone for an amazing year.  I was probably more scared for Freshman year than since I first got on a school bus… and I can’t even remember that.  And moving from a school of 1200 to a school of 3600 is no cakewalk.  So thanks Anthony, you balanced me out like you always do.  Without you putting me in my place I’d probably be a friendless arrogant jerk.  And Ishan, I know how much you hate hearing that you motivated me but it’s completely true, so thanks.  Deisy made Algebra not just bearable but actually fun, along with Eli’s amazingly dry commentary and Ranier’s just overall geekiness.  Also, thanks Aishika for actually reading what I had to write and really helping me out.  And thanks to everyone new and old I’ve met this year, you made this the best year of my life.

Alright, now that that’s over with I’ll give the recap.  And yeah, most of the day was spent doing review packets.  Also, is it ironic that the Spanish speaking final was the easiest one of the year?  I think so.  And now I need to be reminded that the year isn’t COMPLETELY over yet by the math binder sitting next to me.  I can literally hear my math teacher in the voice of GLaDOS from Portal, saying ‘Remember that Algebra hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance.’  Yeah, I know I’m a geek.  Shut up.  Let’s go to commercial.

SONG OF THE DAY: MARRY YOU

 

I said yesterday that I’m in full Bruno Mars mode until Anthony realizes how completely awesome he is… or at least listens to one song.  So remember Anthony that pop music hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance.  Happy studying.

Tuesday: Beginning of the End

Even though the title probably sounds a little morbid today, all it means is that school ends in less than a week.  And this year was weird because, every year around this time, everyone is really hyper and excited for summer.  And I’m not saying that everyone isn’t, it’s just less pronounced than it always used to be… maybe it’s because summer really crept up on us this year; it seems like January was last month and we still have ten months to go until Christmas.  And again, I think I’ve said this before, but I’m not as psyched about leaving this year.  I’m actually enjoying high school… as a freshman!  Oh well, at least that gives high hopes for being sophomore.

And then maybe the other reason it because to reach the oasis of summer we have to travel though the underworld of finals lying in wait up ahead.  Math and Biology are in less than forty-eight hours, something I’m not incredibly pleased with because I’m seriously not ready.  English is a little better, and I have an extra day.  And then the hardest one of all, Spanish, is waiting until after the weekend (and due to our schedule, after two thirds of the school is done with the year), with its devilish listening exams from the 90s where the most you can ever hear is a garbled ‘¡Si!’.  And just to prepare us, the teachers each gave us a hefty packet full of pretty much the year’s worth of work.  At least I beat Half-Life last night, so I have nothing left to distract me from studying… that is if I ever manage to get over my goldfish-like attention-span and actually pick up a book.  In other news I got the Driver’s Manual all printed out, so in three months and change I will be roaming the streets with a licensed adult in the passenger seat and no more passengers than the number of seat belts.  See, I’m already getting it down!

And now that my one friend, who is probably one of the few (if there are a few) consistent readers of this blog, has told me that he doesn’t like Bruno Mars because he has no other songs besides ‘Just the Way You Are.’  So thanks to him I will be doing nonstop Bruno Mars for the rest of the week.

SONG OF THE DAY: THE OTHER SIDE

 

And sorry about the YouTube embedding thing, just click the link and watch it there.  It’s obviously good enough that I would put it there with the problem, so just your mouse five inches and click.  Now goodnight internet-zombies, I have work to do.

Monday: Card Games

I apologize to the two people who read this blog for the weekend posts, I know how boring my music critiques are and I honestly had nothing else to write about.  It was a slow weekend.

Then of course today picked up a little, as Mondays tend to do (another reason Mondays are better than Tuesdays), as this was our school’s first ever Freshmen Fun Day.  Which is awesome, because while the seniors are sitting in a ninety degree school in dress code we’re running around on the baseball field in t-shirts and shorts.  The only problem with that was the fact that, when they started the barbecue, they didn’t consider the fact that one grill doesn’t quite cut it for a class of 900.  I mean… really??

But before we were outside we sat for about an hour in the auditorium to watch what my Chorus teacher likes to call an un-talent show.  And yeah, there were some acts that wouldn’t have cut it in American Idol auditions (though, as one of my friends said, the only reason he watches Idol is for the terrible people).  And then there were a few that were just great.  My friend from middle school who does the best Michael Jackson dance outside of the real thing.  A dance crew called ‘Swag’, which was exactly what they brought.  And then there was Mel, who as always was incredible.  Then of course they interjected a little humor into the end of the show, with a faculty band coming out and playing Firework while managing to sound like THEY belonged on American Idol (or whatever show takes bands), and another nameless song where the freshmen principal came out and delivered a scarily good rap.  This is a guy who constantly jokes about how he could do everything better than all of us… well he definitely can rap.

Now out on the baseball field, after getting our ridiculously small burgers and flavorless (but somehow still delicious) Sun Chips, a bunch of friends and I pulled out a deck of cards and played War on the back of our backpacks.  Now since War is completely a game of luck, I can’t brag about winning…  And then another group of friends pulled out another deck of cards and began to play a hilarious card game called Mao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_%28card_game%29).  And the reason I’m linking you to the Wikipedia page is that I can’t talk about the rules.  Or one of my friends may morph into Mao himself and dish out some punishment I can’t really imagine.  Oh, and this one I CAN brag about winning… at least one round.

And then, of course I decided to sign up for the 100 meter dash, which for some reason came AFTER all of the other events when any energy I’d had left from the rest of the day had dissolved in the heat.  At least I didn’t come in last.  I think I was about seventh.  Out of ten.  Not bad when all of the others are athletes and you’re a geek with a Timex watch and glasses.

There.  I didn’t go on and on about a song today, and I hope you’re grateful.  But I can’t leave without one, so here it is.

SONG OF THE DAY: JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

 

I guarantee you’ve heard this already, but until I can find some good new stuff I’ll keep putting out some old favorites.  And by the way, it’s pretty obvious the few people who say that Bruno Mars is a fake have obviously never listened to his music.  What I mean is that he sounds amazing without all the autotune that the other trash needs to make their voices more than eighty-year-old smoker’s coughs.  And yes Lil Wayne, I am talking to you.  Sayonara until tomorrow, when I hope I have a better rhyme that that.

Sunday: Airplanes

Once again I’m going to go a little out of form here and post the song first, because I’m probably going to just ramble about it for the rest of the post.  And I’m guessing you know what it is already, just because of the title.

SONG OF THE DAY: AIRPLANES

 

I’m guessing everyone reading this, and by that I mean the two people reading this, has heard this song already.  But hey, everyone can revisit a great song every once in a while.  Aesthetically it’s brilliant.  The piano is amazingly good and the backing by itself could be a great song.  The chorus melds perfectly with the rap, and seeing as this is one of the few raps I really like it’s pretty good by itself as well.  Besides that, under the skin there’s meaning in it, and you can actually feel emotion in the song.  And for today’s music, and for most rap, that’s becoming rarer and rarer.  It’s about everything being simpler and going back to a time when everything you did was for the hell of it, instead of doing it for everyone else.  This makes me savor what I do for fun now, because I know someday I’ll be doing it all for someone else.

Alright, now that I’ve got the creative gears turning through all of their rust and slime, I do have something else to say.  If you know something is wrong with you, something is wrong with your life, tell people.  Because believe me, it will take you much longer to fix it on your own.  No lecture or anything.  That’s all.  And to the relief of everyone reading I’m turning in early.  Goodnight all.  Hasta luego.

Saturday: Technical Difficulties

Of course after two days of heightened greatness, the third has no chance of being as good.  Still, today was looking up when I saw a racing game I really wanted on sale for $2.50, so I went ahead and bought it.  It took two hours to download, which by then I was itching to play it.  And then I spend the next five hours, completely wasting my Saturday, to try to fix the myriad of possible problems that could have caused it to not load.  Now finally I see the little text at the bottom (does not work on laptops).  I mean DOES THAT HAVE TO BE IN THE FINE PRINT?  REALLY?  But whatever, it was just a Saturday.  But it could have been such a GOOD Saturday partly because of that and partly because of the new song I discovered today (which is predictably coming later).  Oh well… at least I still have my awesome game from 1998…

Now I’m going to post the song early today because I’m probably going to talk about music for the rest of the post, and that just seems appropriate.

SONG OF THE DAY: EVERY TEARDROP IS A WATERFALL

 

Although the title isn’t the greatest I’ve ever heard, Coldplay has never been known for their naming abilities.  I’m still not sure what Clocks has to do with Clocks, and an album called X&Y doesn’t really get casual onlookers interested.  But that pales due to the fact that nearly every song Coldplay makes is great in some way or another.  Yellow was their first hit, and it is probably my favorite love song of all time.  I’m serious, I may propose during that song if the moment is right.  Clocks (while having a strange name) manages to do so much with about six notes that repeat for about five minutes and is easily one of their best ever.  Speed of Sound takes Clocks down an octave or so, and becomes a great song in its own right.  God Put a Smile Upon Your Face is so enigmatic that I’m still not sure what it means, yet I still love it.  Viva la Vida was what first got me to listen to Coldplay, as it probably did to a lot of others, and has got to be one of the best songs of the last decade.  Violet Hill, which often sits in the shadow of Viva la Vida, is equally as good as well as being incredibly haunting, kind of an opposing force to Yellow (as well as being another song I’ll probably post on here at some point).  Rounding out the bunch is the only completely instrumental song that I’ve ever really loved, as well as being the best song you’ve never heard of, is the opener to the Viva la Vida album: Life in Technicolor.  That song was so great that it inspired an entire story, and that’s in about two minutes with no vocals.  Coldplay is amazing.

So with that I say goodnight, mainly because I’m too tired from my ordeal with technology today to go on Google Translate and find a good ending in another language.  And in that sentence I just realized how much I depend on technology.  Well, a fitting end to a Saturday that never really got off to a good start.  ¡Buenos noches amigos, y ve por las fantasmas!

Friday: Two Trilogies

Finally, after a week of sameness I have something to ramble about!  Firstly though, I just want to recognize the last two days for how great they’ve been, even today coming off of last night kept up the rarefied aura of the week.  I swear, everything I want to happen is working out like I just drank a draught of liquid luck.  I was able to sing Beautiful Day without missing any notes, and I got a pretty nice cheer at the end.  I got the magazine I’ve been looking for for the past week from a couple of awesome librarians (laugh all you want, they’re the best).  And yeah, there’s six days left of school!  What’s not to love?

Also today I finished the first book in probably the most-well known trilogy ever outside of Star Wars.  I’ve been reading The Bourne Identity since about the time I started this blog, and the book did not disappoint.  The book itself was the best spy/action book by a long shot I’ve ever read (and yeah, I read Casino Royale).  The plot was twisted and dark like the jungles of Tam Quan.  The style was just the way I liked it, not overly descriptive but still giving great settings.  The antagonist, almost always the best part of a book, was everything an antagonist should be.  Even Jason Bourne himself was, while not the best character, was almost definitely the best ‘spy’ character I’ve ever seen in a book.  The woman (who when I picked up the book I didn’t even know existed), Marie St. Jacques, was also a great character, probably the strongest character in the book whom saves Jason on more than one occasion.  Although, the love story between the two of them was a little unbelievable… but if that’s the worst thing I can say then you can tell it was a pretty damn good book.  All in all, I would have loved it anyway, but I think the best part for me was that it was the polar opposite of James Bond (the books at least), in the way that the spy is unsure of himself, the woman is the strongest character, and the writing is actually exciting.  This is a trilogy I will definitely finish… and after that I’ll probably watch the apparently excellent movies as well.

The second trilogy I finished back in the fall or winter, and when I heard they were making a movie out of it I was understandably depressed.  The Hunger Games was one of the best teen books I’ve read in a long time, and I didn’t want to see it destroyed as a movie.  Still, after seeing the casting I was actually pleasantly surprised.  There is not a single famous actor (besides maybe Woody Harrelson), and even though Jennifer Lawrence is a little old they couldn’t have cast Katniss any better.  Really, they’re following the same formula a crazily successful and amazingly good series of movies followed… which was start with a bunch of relative nobodies and by the end they will be somebodies.  Harry Potter followed that formula, and somehow Warner Brothers managed to turn easily the greatest young adult series of the 21st century into an equally great sequence of movies.  I’m not sure if that can be pulled off twice, but it looks like Lionsgate may just manage it with Hunger Games (which in my mind is easily Harry Potter’s successor).  As for those who are saying that you hate Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss simply because she’s either too old or too curvy or whatever… just read this: http://thehungergamesnation.weebly.com/1/post/2011/05/hq-scans-full-transcript-from-the-entertainment-weekly-hunger-games-issue.html.  Personally, I’d rather have someone who both loves the character and understands the character (and who also happens to be a pretty damn good actress) than someone who just looks the part.  But if you’d rather have Hailee Steinfeld or Emma Roberts… go right ahead.  Not to say they wouldn’t be good… but this is the best you could possibly get.

Alright.  There’s my spiel on the two trilogies.  There’s a thing about trilogies too, they always seem to be decent no matter what they’re about.  But there is a sure way to ruin one… and that is to extend it.  If something is meant to be a trilogy… it should stay a trilogy.  I realize there are about eight Bourne books in all, but I will only read the first three.  I will only ever watch the first (chronologically) three Star Wars movies.  And as for Maximum Ride… I wish I’d only read the first three.  But anyway you’ve listened to my incessant rambling (or, if you’re smart, you’ve skipped right past it), so it’s time for the reward.

SONG OF THE DAY: MISERY

 

Even though this song is the exact opposite of how I feel today… it’s perfect in an odd way.  And I swear, Adam Levine has one of the best tenor voices on a guy I’ve ever heard.  מאושר לאומללות

Thursday: Awards Night

It feels like the year is over.  Freshmen Year is complete.  I’ve done everything I wanted to do.  I’ve met everyone I wanted to meet (finally).  I even got a big award for it.  Funny, I was scared coming into the year more because of a book I read back in 7th Grade than anything anyone had told me, which incidentally is one of my favorite books of all time.  It’s called Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie… and even though the life of the fifteen year-old in the book is nothing whatsoever like mine the endings feel similar, basically because they were both satisfying.  So thanks everyone for a wonderful year… even though in all my happiness I’m forgetting the finals looming in a week.  Oh well, I’ll save my thank-yous for then.  So, for now, great job to everyone who got an award tonight and an even better job to those who did not.

Tonight’s post will be extra-short, as I want to leave it at that.  But I will (as always) try to leave you with a good song.  This is one I end up humming after anything good happens… it’s infectious and couldn’t be more appropriate.  You’ve probably heard it before, it’s been out eleven years… but if you hadn’t you can thank me later.

SONG OF THE DAY: BEAUTIFUL DAY

 

Tiene un día hermoso.  Adios.

Wednesday: Heat is On

Again, I’ll try to keep this short because I have nothing to write about for the second day in a row, besides the fact that my teacher screwed up a test grade in the computer… she gave me a 76 when I really had a 94.  Oh well, failure always tastes sweeter when it’s faked.

But anyway I realize the Miami Heat won Game 1 of the Finals by eight points.  News flash: eight points is about thirty seconds of scoring in professional basketball.  It means nothing besides the fact that LeBron will get even closer to a championship before it is snatched away from him by Dirk and the Mavericks… who by the way deserve it ten times more than the cheating Heat ever will.  I hear all of you claiming that everything the Heat did was completely legal, and then I ask you if you remember that year the Patriots cheated to go undefeated and then got karma-tized by the Giants with a fourth-down Hail Mary.  You all look at me as if I’m making it up.  I realize how you’re all going to laugh at this, but sports has a component of destiny.  the 07 Giants.  The 08 Phillies.  The 10 Packers.  Underdogs win more often than favorites… that’s just how it works.  And when Dirk comes out and scores 45 tomorrow night to steal away the home court you will all shake your heads and say “Wow, Chris was right.”  Mavericks in seven.  Take it or feel the pain of being wrong.

Now after that little sports eruption it’s time for another… specifically WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE DAMN PHILLIES?!  You guys were supposed to be good!  I don’t care if you have one of the best records in the league, you lost a series to the NATIONALS!  You scored ONE RUN against a pitcher who has NEVER WON against you before!  The Big 4 aren’t looking so hot now, really the only one that hasn’t been disappointing to me is Hamels.  Halladay is good five times out of six, but on that sixth it’s just bad.  Something is off with Lee… he’s not the same pitcher who almost single-handedly won the World Series two years ago.  And Oswalt, he hasn’t been up to snuff all season.  Not to mention the subtle lack of any hitting whatsoever.  Get rid of Ibañez, stick Dom Brown in left.  He could use the time and he’s a better hitter and fielder anyway.  And either get a good right fielder or throw Mayberry there more often… Francisco has been killing me all year.  He’s a fourth outfielder.  He’s a utility player.  He’s NOT a starter.  And as for everyone else… where are you Howard?  Utley?  Chooch?  Come on Phillies, WAKE UP!

Alright I’m done.  No really.  Power’s gone.  Depleted.  So I’ll leave you with my song of the day… which is what I’ll be calling it now as the few people who read this blog seem to expect / enjoy them very much.

SONG OF THE DAY: THE STATIC AGE

 

This is one of my all-time favorites, second only to Lonesome Day (see Sunday).  It’s so true, and yet manages to be an engaging song anyway.  Green Day rocks.  السلام