McCain/Palin

Please, people...

We can NOT do this to our country. McCain has no respect for the office of President of the United States. This is obvious by his Vice Presidential decision.

Obviously, McCain and Palin would not be exactly 4-more-years of the SAME; however, it could potentially get much much worse.

Obama isn't perfect by any means, but he is a much much better alternative.

I know we're an "every man for himself" country.
I know we're a "gun loving" country.

Extended social programs may not work too well in this country, but I think we should definitely give it a shot.

As for our guns, the 2nd Ammendment should stand on its own. The government can't take away your guns...that's why we have the right to OWN guns...to prevent such an uprising.

Please consider your options though these are the theoretical alternatives, as I see it:
1. Somewhat stricter gun laws.
or
2. The further dumbing down of our country under the rule of a disgruntled grandpa who may or may not have Alzheimers.


I used to respect McCain. I would have voted for him, also. But now...he's abandoned everything I thought he believed in...

fuck him.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Hello Darling. It's Been Far Too Long...

The human mind is capable of some very funny things.
When I was younger, I used to suffer from an occasional panic attack. Nothing serious or even noticable. Nothing I was ever treated for or considered to be a problem. It mostly came in the form of a feeling of intensity once in awhile when I couldn't get to sleep. I felt as if every noise in the room was heightened and that there was a sort of screaming voice in the center of my brain.

This can be a scary feeling for a kid, but fortunately I was able to overcome it on my own. My parents didn't even know about it. I couldn't explain it, of course, and because I was young, impressionable, and attending Catholic school, I thought it had something to do with my conscience. This "knowledge" made me extremely conscious of any decision I made, and caused me to be unneccessarily apologetic.

When I was a bit older, I met another boy at camp who actually suffered from legitimate panic attacks that caused him to hum to himself and rock back and forth from time to time. From speaking with him, I came to realize that this feeling wasn't something supernatural, but something fairly commonplace (that I was fortunate enough to only have to a small degree). Eventually I learned how to dismiss the feeling, or calm myself down to get rid of it. Next thing I knew, they were gone altogether.

The reason that I mention this is that this weekend was fun and strange. On Friday night, I absolutely couldn't force myself to go to sleep. Eventually it became so intense that I began to have one of these anxiety attacks, feeling that I would NEVER be able to get to sleep, and that I couldn't find any silence. After a couple minutes of no success with ignoring the situation, I managed to get up and take a shower to try to calm myself down. Somehow in this process, the problem went away and I drifted, fairly easily, off to sleep.

Janine's cousins: Maura and Jess came to visit with their respective boyfriends. And Anthony came over, too! It was an exciting weekend (what with the RED BULL BOXCAR RACE and all). There was a shitstorm on Saturday during the race, but it still managed to be fucking amazing.

Today, I went to Farley's Pub for the Eagles game. I'm not a football fan at all, but the Eagles owned.

Now I'm at work and about to watch a Sarah Palin speech, then read an article on it by Sam Harris. Ah, work.


EDIT:
I'm watching an insider documentary on MSNBC about John McCain's life, and what's the first thing to come up at the commercial break?? An ad for Alzheimers care. I just found that kinda interesting (funny).

Do You Need Anything Else?

...This video was linked to in my previous post's video; however, I thought it was so great that I would give it its own post.

Is it any wonder Barack Obama inspires so many people? There are things about him that I don't agree with...his faith...his attempts to bow down to the right in many of his policies...his attempts to prove that he'll be a war president, even if we don't particularly need it...

But, in spite of all of this, his campaign is about HOPE, CHANGE, and resurrection of this country. I think he'll make the right decisions...

...and I HOPE he knows what he's doing.

I've never seen such a Spirited campaign.

Though this is just another celebrity infested promotion, I still think it's exciting and heartwarming and real.

I just browsed through a gallery of Obama fan art and some of it looks like 1960s-1970s inspiring posters. I've never seen such a campaign as this one...It is full of sincere people with actual faith and devotion in a candidate that they feel that they can believe in.

Maybe we can believe in Obama. I think that I can believe in Barack Obama...I Want to Believe.

Please don't let us down, Mr. Senator. We believe in you...and we will continue to hold out hope until the very last vote is counted.

One suggestion: Lose Your Religion.

Joe Biden is VP. Yay...surprises!

YOU JUST GOT BARACK ROLL'D!

Faith and Politics--The United States of Whatever.

At the Saddleback Civil Forum yesterday, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain were individually interviewed by Pastor Rick Warren before an audience of Evangelical Christians.

They were essentially asked the same questions. Obama went first and he was pleasant to listen to. He has high hopes and I agree with his approaches to many things...not everything...but lots.

When the show started, Pastor Warren claimed that McCain was sealed off backstage so that he would have no prior knowledge of the questions asked.

When it was McCain's turn to come out, Warren's first statement was to ask McCain how he felt in the soundproof chamber. McCain made a joke about trying to listen to the walls. Not a bad joke...but, it turned out that McCain was never IN a soundproof booth...he was in his motorcade the whole time and upon arrival was set up in a green room backstage.

McCain answered all the questions almost before they were even asked. Seems a bit unfair...but here's the big question:

WHO CARES?!

It shouldn't matter if Obama or McCain knew or didn't know what they were going to be asked. Why would EITHER of them have to have a prepared answer? Can they not simply be honest with the American people? I suppose not.

If anything, McCain SHOULD know what's going to be asked. He probably needs a hell of a lot more preparation time than Obama does. But, this is the BIG issue...this element of the discussion. I don't feel this is an issue at all, but there it is.

Today on Sean Hannity's radio show, a caller claimed that McCain was straight forward and steady in his beliefs. McCain stated everything matter-of-factly, and THAT is the quality of someone who everyone should vote for.
I disagree...for one reason...why would you vote for someone who matter-of-factly stated ridiculousness that only narrow-minded dumbstruck people would find appealing?

Maybe I'm being too harsh...
And I'm totally getting away from my MAIN grievance.

I have several strong issues with this debate:

1. It was held in a church for the purpose of appealing to EVANGELICAL Christians.

2. It was conducted by a famous PASTOR who shaped many of his questions around the idea of Faith and Religious beliefs.

3. McCain plagerized a story, claimed it happened to HIM, and won praise.

4. The candidates are both basing their policies on the words of an imaginary sky-monster who wrote a book and they think is talking to them.

5. OF COURSE MCCAIN WON THE DEBATE!! All he had to do was say: "Overturn Roe v. Wade", "Gays don't have the same rights as us straight people", and "I'm a Christian" and the crowd melts. And with the exception of Roe v. Wade, Obama did the exact same thing.


Why does no one in the media talk about the issue of faith and religious beliefs as a bad thing? Not for votes (of course), but for policy...and for its combination with politics.

I don't want my president taking foreign and domestic policy advice from his imaginary friend!
Is that too much to ask? I don't think it should be...

I still hold out hope that Obama is an Atheist (or at least not as religious as he claims to be). I think this is a plausible idea. If it were true, I wish he would come out and say it...but I understand why he doesn't.

I'll end this post with one thought...look at the image above. If it disturbs you, for whatever reason, as it does me, then you know what this country is all about. You know the basis on which this country was formed.

If it doesn't...then I tremble for the fate of my country.

(PS: Larry King currently in a discussion with Pastor Rick Warren.
Larry King: "I imagine you didn't know that McCain wasn't actually in his secluded room. Pastor Rick Warren would never tell a mistruth."

What? Religion is the biggest mistruth that has ever been told.)

We Demand To Be Taken Seriously!

After a pleasant conversation with the head of a new production studio that is under development on Cecil B. Moore street, I am more optimistic than ever about working more in depth with the television industry. I suppose I am working slightly backwards, but I have my completed Pilot--edited and edited (and probably due for some more editing)...

Now I am working on preparing a Treatment for both the Series, and the Pilot itself. I think they are finished now, but I may have to edit them down. I'll post both here when I'm satisfied. After that, I will have to register the treatment with the Writers' Guild East. Tomorrow, most likely, I will begin work on the Project Proposal. Perhaps there is a small chance that I will be able to have a show!

Also, if you read my twitter posts, I am feeling extremely under-the-weather. If this illness continues, it's going to be a long and terrible week...

...oh my, yes.

Picture that I found on my web travels...

I <3 Facebreaker's Shizz

FACEBREAKER IMAGES OF MY FRIENDS!!

Swift Kids for Truth.

Barack Obama...

The Dark Knight--for kids!

Not necessarily...same amount of violence and adult content...just kids playing all the parts. Very funny!!! Awesome trailer!

Pineapple Express.

See any good movies lately?
I did!
"PINEAPPLE EXPRESS" was everything that I had hoped it to be and more. Written by the scribes responsible for "SUPERBAD" (Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg), this movie follows almost the exact same story structure:
Two friends have a specific goal,
that goal gets turned upside down,
they find themselves running away,
the two friends get into a fight,
and then end up saving one another and realizing what their friendship really means.

Now, even though the same structure is followed (and it IS a safe structure), the movies are vastly different. PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is an action-packed buddy movie that may, in fact, exceed all others. It is hilarious throughout, though not as quotable as SUPERBAD (but that is probably a good thing). I don't want to have any spoilers in this review, so I'll have to be cautious.

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS was SUPERBAD grown up and on steroids. We even kindof had a FOGEL (aka McLovin) character in there for an extra dose of comedy. All of the characters were extraordinarily funny. Dale Denton, played by Seth Rogen, seemed to be more of the straight-man as Saul Silver, played by James Franco, almost stole the show.

If you were asking yourself "Hey, what ever happened to Rosie Perez?" You'll have your answer. It's almost as if she disappeared from the public eye to save up the energy and power for this film. In PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, Perez plays a corrupt police officer on the side of the drug dealers that are hunting down Dale and Saul.

There is a surprising amount of graphic violence in the movie that seems to come almost out of nowhere at times. When I say "graphic violence", I don't mean "SAW 5" graphic violence, but still things that you wouldn't expect from a Judd Apatow comedy. The movie also contains an abundance of drug use (which is something you WOULD expect from a Judd Apatow comedy) which, according to Apatow, is something that he never really got into. Apatow claims that the film is actually an anti-drug movie...which becomes clear about 2/3 of the way through. That being said, the stoner comedy and dialog makes the movie what it is. I recommend that you DON'T see this movie high (at least the first time). It's much too awesome to be forgotten 5 minutes later.

The film is funny throughout, completely suspenseful and surprising, action-packed, emotional, and ranks high at the top of the list of films in its genre (as well as films by the Apatow Crew). If you liked SUPERBAD, this movie may not have you repeating the lines every five minutes, but it will have you laughing from start to finish. If you HATED "Superbad", this movie is completely different as far as setting, genre, story, and power; but the comedy is somewhat similar (perhaps more adult). I recommend anyone who likes comedy, action, or both, to check this movie out post haste.

...additional: Can't WAIT for the Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg version of ...wait for it..."THE GREEN HORNET"...time for Mr. Rogen to flex his SUPERHERO muscles!

Recommend:
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Knocked Up
Superbad
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Freaks and Geeks (tv)
Undeclared (tv)


REVIEW: A+

DRAGONBALL movie?! With Chatwin? Chow Yun Fat?

You wouldn't think something like this would be allowed to happen, but it IS, in 2009...I don't understand. I'm not an anime nerd or anything, but I used to watch Dragonball Z...I think it would make a pretty cool movie, too...but this doesn't look right at all.

I think what I'll do is just continue to think that it's just some kind of joke or straight-to-DVD experiment.

I didn't see SPEED RACER, but I heard it was really bad. The previews made it look pretty awesome, and I think when it comes out on Blu-Ray, I might give it a watch. Even though they didn't use Japanese actors in Speed Racer, I thought they did an amazing job capturing the cartoon. I guess I shouldn't judge it before it's released, but DragonBall looks bad. There are just as many real posters on the internet as fake ones, so we'll see how it turns out. As of now, my hopes are low...but hey, I thought that the "Super Mario Bros." movie was pretty sweet...for what it was.

Don't Go There Zargon!

a trailer of a rip-off of a film within a film

spaced. again?

a scene from the mockumentary.

Facebreaker! Coming Sept. 5

So, I downloaded the demo of EA Sports' FACEBREAKER for PS3. Not a realistic-looking boxing game. You play with caricatures with varying looks and personalities. The gameplay and graphics are a lot of fun.


Now, there is something extra about this game that makes it extremely cool...the "Create a Boxer" feature (which all boxing games probably have) goes one step further to the point where you can actually upload front and side photos of yourself and the game will morph your face onto a CGI image. You can make appropriate adjustments, but for the most part, none are needed. It is almost 100% spot-on.


Not impressed yet? Well, you should be! Having only played a demo, I don't know the complete ins and outs of the game, but it is a lot of fun, and this face-capturing feature makes it a lot cooler than simply designing your own character from scratch.

Your body is sculpted based on the body of one of the other boxers in the game (but, again, this may only be in the demo).

I'm not aware of any other titles that have embraced this technology yet, but it is very cool and very exciting.

Check out FACEBREAKER at www.easportsworld.com

The Montauk Monster

Recently, the internet and tv news channels have been on fire (okay, maybe just smoldering off in the corner somewhere) over the pictures from the Hamptons of the so-called "Montauk Monster".

What could this thing that is obviously a male mammal be? Well, let's try to figure it out...

Is it a publicity stunt?

No, probably not...It is a strange coincidence that Cartoon Network's new show, The Secret Saturdays, about a family that seeks out mythological creatures called "Cryptids", is airing. This kind of thing seems like a prank of Cartoon Network proportions (i.e. AquaTeen Hunger Force). However, as far as I know, this new show is meant for children and probably wouldn't be throwing a fake animal with its cock hanging out on the beach. So that's out.

Is it a Hoax?

If it is, it is an elaborate hoax that would yield absolutely no result...and it would've been declared a hoax already.

Is it a genetic mutation brought on by an Animal Testing Facility?

That doesn't even make any sense. This animal has obviously been dead for a long long time. And what testing facility is just fucking around, making non-descript freak animals for no reason? I feel like I'm having an argument with myself, so I'll move on.

If it's not a Monster, what is it?

First, there's no such thing as a Monster. This dead animal has captured the imaginations of many people (myself included), but the more rational of us attempt to seek REAL answers in things that may be weird and kinda creepy...

So, what is it? Well...

We know that something washed up on the beach early that day. More than a few people saw this thing, and many many people took pictures. With that much coverage, some experts MUST HAVE stepped forward and said "I know what this is." And what do you know? They DID!

But here's the thing: some disagree.

Possibilities:

A Dog? many people have seen multiple angles of this thing and said that it clearly looks like a decomposed dog. In another picture, the animal appears to have a beak, but it's clear that it is just the front of the skull poking through the skin. Could be a dog...but wait, there's more!

A Skinned Ram? I heard this online...still doesn't make any sense.

A Whale Fetus? Whales ARE mammals...but they usually don't have four legs, fur, and floppy ears...

A Possum or Otter? I think we might be getting warmer, but...wait!

A Demon?! (...)

A Raccoon? Makes sense, but some experts say that the paws are a bit too long.

A Sea Turtle? It has teeth.

A Rodent? Could be. Actually, this may be the best answer...And you're thinking: Hey, that's a pretty fucking big rodent...but look at the picture again. There's a fly on its back leg, indicating that the picture is WAY close up, and this "Monster" is no bigger than a baby. It could be a dog, a medium-sized one...or...

One website (http://gawker.com/5032170/montauk-monster-vole-or-satan) presents a reasonable argument that the dead animal is a Dead Water Rat. The pictures look similar, and it's pretty logical to make the connection.

FOX's experts say: Dead Raccoon. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,396182,00.html)

Venom energy drink created a blog/contest to capture a "Montauk Monster" here (http://capturethebeast.blogspot.com/).

My best guess: Dog or Water Rat.

If you look at the new pictures, it appears that it's almost certainly a dog (possibly skinned or just really decomposed). No one can check out this body scientifically because someone "took the body", so at this point, no one can know for sure. But one thing's fore sure, it IS a real animal. A real dead animal.

My expert opinion: Not a Monster.

This is a test to

This is a test to see if I can blog through email.

FILMS NOIR

I've been watching a boatload of Film Noir flicks and I think I'd like to review some of them on my blog. Interesting? Maybe.

Will anyone read them?
Sadly, no.

EDIT: I doubt I'll actually do this.

A Message Sent to The Creation Guys

This is a message I sent to The Creation guys, on YouTube, and at (www.creationguys.com).

I spent a good while writing so I thought I'd share.

1. Intelligent Design is the same as creationism. It's a new name and packaging to sneak pure religion into science. When you say that there was a "Designer", that's supernatural, and you can't PROVE that by any means. Science is science for a reason, and that reason...is REASON and evidence.

2. VenomFangX is not a valid source on anything.

3. Scientists don't "cast their stories" on things. They don't make up stories. They take evidence and gather more and more evidence until their hypothesis can be tested. Whichever hypothesis is proven valid, that's the one they continue to test. Evolution has been proven. It's not scientific theory, it's not scientific interpretation...it's scientific observation.

Now you guys can believe whatever you want, but the truth is out there, if you bother to read the scientific data. It's THERE...it's easy to understand, and it's staring you in the face. Do you realize how many processes and discoveries have been made using that very scientific data?
The world of medicine? Cures for diseases?
Understanding the human genome? Understanding the human brain and its development??

Dudes, if scientists just sat back and said "well this looks really complicated...god must have done it. we'll never be able to understand that"...nothing would ever get done. Religion is a dead end in the search for knowledge.

I know I'm not going to change your mind or make you see it my way (and the way of the rest of the intelligent world), but look...

Evolution does not attempt to explain the origins of everything. It explains accurately how we got to where we are today. There are many misconceptions held by creationists ABOUT evolution, and that's fine...you just have to do the research, that's all.

Let's say that God created everything. If you believe that, fine. It would be logical then to assume that he jumpstarted evolution. That evolution was his plan all along and that we were meant to discover the origins of his creation to become closer to him. Why is that so hard to grasp, if you're religious.

Maybe God didn't literally write the words in the Bible. Maybe the Bible isn't completely literal. In fact, most of it is downright crazytalk.

If you believe that God answers prayers...you must know that he doesn't answer them literally right away, he allows for one to keep living and experiencing life, offering you opportunities to have your prayers answered.
If you ask God for love and peace and harmony, it won't happen...but he provides you with the chance to attain those things if you really want them.

I went to Catholic school for 12 years...I know the arguments and I know religion from science. In religion class we were taught religion and in science class we were taught science...and that's the way it should be.

To say that scientists are in any way shape or form debating the theory of evolution is insane...and it's not that that's the theory they chose and they're sticking with it. Science isn't democratic. They tested EVERY theory. If it weren't for Creationism, evolution would never even be thought of...all scientific discovery has a base in religion.

Religion used to be a way to explain the natural world, but we KNOW now that that's not true. The earth is NOT the center of the universe. It's not flat, and it doesn't have talking animals.

Also, I've been thinking about something for a long time that kinda bugs me.
Jesus Christ.
Now I know that Christ is just a title, not a last name...but "Jesus" is Greek. Nobody in that part of the world would have been named Jesus.
Jesus is the Greek translation of "JOSHUA" or (Hebrew) "YESHUA"...but there was already a Joshua in the Bible so they stuck with the Greek name...

I don't understand it though...why choose "Jesus" over "Yeshua BarYosef" which probably would have been his real name, if he existed.

Religious debate is funny though...it never really gets you anywhere because it's by definition a parochial subject matter. Science, on the other hand, is meant to be open minded.

Dawkins said that he would be open to Intelligent Design BECAUSE he is a scientist. He is in no position to say "there is no god, definitely" because that would be irrational for a scientist to do. But he can, on the other hand, say that there is just as much probability for the existence of god as there is for the existence of unicorns, genies, and fairies. If they exist, the evidence isn't there.

I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make here. My only suggestion is that you read up on the ideas of natural selection and evolution before you criticize them unintelligently. It's not dogmatic, it's just reality. Just because we KNOW how it developed, doesn't mean there was no God guiding its process.

That's the point here...you say that things are so complex that there must have been a designer (god)...well, fine. There's no PROOF of that, but you can have your intelligent design and evolution also. I lead my debate team on the position FOR intelligent design and found an overwhelming amount of evidence for it.

BUT...just because EVERYTHING in nature has a pattern and EVERYTHING in nature adheres to design basics and mathematics, that's just how nature works, and if God designed it that way, then he also guided evolution because we KNOW that to be factual as well.

Thanks.