January Diary

I used to do this whole month in review thing over on Myspace, but once I realized that it has became the New Delhi slum of the online world, I stopped going regularly. What was once a staple of my online existence is now a mere sideshow. Facebook is considerably better. It looks like ol' Rupert hitched his horse to the wrong wagon when he bought that thing back in 2005.

But I'm getting off track. What I really meant to say was that I used regularly write in my Myspace blog, but since I stopped going there as often, I stopped doing that completely. I just never picked up the month in review thing again. But I figure it's time. I always enjoy writing them even if you don't particularly like reading them.

January has been a rather eventful month. Not only is it a new year, but it is a new decade as well. One of the best things about this last month, I'd say, is that not only did we get best of 2009 lists (which I'm a sucker for), but we also got best of the decade lists. EPIC YAY! Two sets of lists! Ok, maybe that's a stupid thing to get excited about, but screw you, this is my blog.

After a pretty good month back home, I came back to school and am once again trying to get settled back into the ho-hum life. This is supposed to be my final semester before I get my MA, but I keep getting this horrible feeling that something (or someone) is about to royally screw me over and delay my graduation. It probably won't happen and I'm trying to cover my tracks the best I can to prevent it from happening, but the feeling won't go away.

School hasn't really picked up yet and I haven't had a whole lot to do. This could potentially be an easy semester for me. I only have 3 classes and one of them is essentially an undergrad class that the professor told me directly should be easy. I think she underestimates my ability to be confused by international trade.

Going to work has been essentially pointless since I've gotten back into town. A medium stink was raised about me being back a little bit later than I was supposed to, but they've had almost nothing for me to do the whole time. I only work 10 hours a week, but a good quarter of that is spent by me screwing around on Facebook because there is nothing else to do. Sounds fun, but trust me, it gets boring. They had originally told me that I'd be getting 20 hours a week working on some green jobs project, but, naturally, it has been held up by some bureaucratic delays and probably won't be done until the end of February. Nice. I learned that this project was being funded through the stimulus and I suppose it wasn't "shovel ready".

Oh well..... the world still spins.

Quick Thoughts on Conan vs. Jay

This whole Jay Leno in prime time thing has blown-up in NBC's face hasn't it? Here's my thoughts on the parties involved:

NBC

Pretty much everybody agrees they screwed up royally here. In the first place, I wonder whose bright idea it was to put Jay in prime time EVERY NIGHT anyway? Since when has something like this ever worked? The time slot they put him in is a key slot for drama and by putting him there every night of the week, you take away almost any shot your network has at new, serious drama shows. A much better solution would have been to do it one or two nights a week, but I suspect Jay wanted none of that.

Second, why would NBC even consider giving Jay Leno his old show back? Why would top talent go to the network now considering how willing they are to go back on their deals? NBC is constantly in last place for a reason. They might have lost Leno, but they would have kept their respect. But I figure NBC must be run by morons anyway because only a moron would make a fight between late-night comedians so public. What, exactly, do you think these guys talk about on their shows anyway?

Jay Leno

Oh Jay, what will we do with you? You clearly have the network in the palm of your hands and couldn't give a damn about what happens to Conan O'Brien. What I wonder is why you would even want your old NBC slot back? Who, after a shot at a much bigger stage, wants to admit defeat in such a way and go back to where you know you dominate? I don't blame you entirely. You were put in a bad situation, but your ego and lack of consideration towards your other late-night hosts has been pretty disgusting.

Conan

The real loser in this. Yes, his ratings haven't been that good, but can you blame him? Nobody watches Jay's show, so nobody watches the news, so nobody watches Conan. It's a simple chain. Is he not cut out for that earlier slot? Hard to tell, he was never really given a chance. Jay had years to build his audience, Conan had 7 months. But that said, I think he would do much better on a network like FOX anyway where his edgier brand of comedy would go over better. I will watch for a while simply out of the outrage of injustice being done.

Least Favorite Movies of the Year

Last week I wrote about my favorites, now here are my least favorites from last year:

G.I. Joe

You may be able to make the argument that this movie was just supposed to be big, stupid, fun, and I was almost there, but in the end, I just couldn't call it that. G.I. Joe was just a little too dopey. And yet again, Hollywood pisses on another one of my beloved childhood institutions.

Let me briefly explain what I call the "Monument Complex". Any movie that has a major world monument, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sears Tower, Great Pyramids, etc, destroyed, it's in serious trouble. G.I. Joe had the Effiel Tower destroyed, so... yeah.

The Soloist

But I think much more wrath needs to be thrust upon The Soloist than about any other move for the sole reason that it actually tried to be a serious movie. The problem, in fact, is that it tried too hard. There was waaaaaaay too much going on here and tried to be about so many things that it ended up being about nothing. Was it a biopic about Nathaniel Ayers? Steve Lopez? A lament about the fall of the newspaper industry? About homelessness? Drug abuse? Mental illness? It was beyond perplexing. The closing words about homlessness in America was really the tops. Was this supposed to be some sort of infomercial?

Bruno

This one was profoundly disappointing considering that I liked Borat so much. This movie suffered from two flaws: first, the characters come from different places. Yes, Borat was offensive, but that's due to his backward upbringing and comes simply from naivety. He may not know our ways, but he was seemingly good hearted. Bruno, however, coming from a more "modern" society, is just a douche bag with no likable qualities. Second, you can' really do a movie like Borat again. Part of the genius is that it had never been done and exposed American's racial and political attitudes in a unique way. What was left for Bruno to explain? It had all been done.

Antichrist

Just vile trash. It's been months since I've seen it but I still can't get some of the images out of my head.

I have more, but I'll stop there for now....

Random Thoughts for 1/10/2010

1) I think 2010 is going to be a long year for me typingwise. We are barely 10 days into it, and every time I type the year, I always seem to type 210 before I realize my mistake.

2) I'm impressed that the Cowboys managed to beat the Eagles so convincingly two weeks in a row. I think they can take the Vikings, but my inner pessimist seems to think that they have gone as far as this team is destined to go.

3) I think that sleeping is much easier when you take 3 allergy pills instead of just 2.

4) I think that the Bigelow Sweet Dreams herbal tea is a great product.

5) I've been stalling putting on the finishing touches on my resume. I think that I don't want to accept that this little world of college life that I have been living in for a while is going to change. But I feel determined not to make the same mistakes I made when I graduated from UNM. I'm going to be more ready this time.

6) Leaving Farmington again always gives me mixed emotions. I'm ready to start the grind again, but sad at the people I'm leaving behind.

Favorite Movies of 2009

The Hurt Locker

What can you say? Cinematic brilliance and one of my two five star candidates of the year*. It took a while, but Iraq movies are really starting to come into their own. I think the genre became much more effective when directors realized that the politics are still really messy and the best way to tell this story is to leave them out completely. The lack of politics and the portrayal of soldiers as actual people, rather than toys being manipulated by politicians, is why The Hurt Locker works and horrible pieces of trash like In the Vally of Elah don't.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Certainly the funniest movie I've seen all year. I wrote:

"This is a damn funny movie. Very intellegent and very qwirky with the natural Wes Anderson flair. The stop motion technique was a great choice and well executed, especially for a directer who doesn't really do that sort of thing."

This is one of those movies that makes me wonder if the fuddy duddies at the Academy will ever catch on and start awarding voice over Oscars. This is my second five star candidate.

A Serious Man

Life's a bitch and then you die. Does anybody say that better than the Coen brothers? Not quite the Fargoesque level of brilliance we've seen in the past, but certainly better than Burn After Reading, which I liked more than most people.

Inglorious Basterds

What I liked most about this one was the pure originality, it's not something that is big in Hollywood these days. I really fascinating alt-history that's much more satisfying than the original. Morally, this is a very complicated movie. The Basterds are war criminals, pure and simple, but because their motives are considered "good", does that somehow make it ok?

Up in the Air

This is the story of our times. Two things stick out in this one: first, the unformulaic happy times ending and second, George Clooney. He was just perfect for this role.

Sin Nombre

The story of an immigrant family trying to reach the United States and the MS 13 members who try to rob them. An interesting look at gang life in central America.

500 Days of Summer

Not breathtakingly original, but a much needed update of one of my all time favorites, Annie Hall. I think the fuzzy chronology is really well done, and presents a much more realistic take of a relationship than something done linearly. This movie contains what I think is the best individual scene I've seen all year, the split screen of how he wishes one of his encounters with Summer went versus how it actually did.

Ok, so about the five star thing: I award really good movies 4.5 stars out of five (that's how facebook does it). To get 5 stars, the movie has to be good on repeated watchings.

Remorse of the Junk Food Junkie

Every time is the last time.... until it's not. Funny how it is with a junkie and the best example of how irrational human beings can be. We have these habits and addictions and we know they are bad, but we keep doing them not thinking about the consequences until later, when it's often too late.

Same story different week

Yesterday was a pretty crazy food day. Huge breakfast, omelet, pancakes and hash browns, large lunch at the local Chinese feed bag, more than a generous helping of pizza for dinner and a medium sized Blizzard later in the evening. Roughly similar story for yesterday and the day before. I'm almost afraid to do a calorie count and it's probably best that I not. My own version of a hangover, my stomach inevitably hurts the next day. Is it worth it? It must be because I keep doing it again and again and again.

If this was just one unfortunate weekend, I could probably let it slide without comment, but no, this is part of a continuing cycle that happens week after week after week. Granted, yes, it could be worse, alcohol or cocaine, but these weekly food benders and massive quantities of sugar cannot be good for my health and certainly aren't good for my weight. They tend to not be good for my mood either because I always end up feeling weak and lousy the next day. There is a reason my weight jumped from 170 to 230 in three years and it is not entirely due to chemo.

But other than the health consequences, what it symbolizes is actually something much worse, a lack of control. A lack of control over my emotions, and the inability to channel some of my inner turmoil into something less destructive.

I swear, this is the last time...... until next time.