April 30, 2005

Youngblood at the Movies

Well I'm back at the movies after a little hiatus, and today's entry is the latest film by Kevin Smith, Jersey Girl.

I can honestly say that I think that this was an absolutely fantastic movie, and I don't understand why it gets shit on so much. Yeah it's different than all his other movies, but just because it has Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez(for about 20 minutes) doesn't make it a bad movie. I think it proves that Kevin Smith doesn't need to have Jay and Silent Bob to make a good movie.

It is full of View Askew alumni like Jason Lee, Matt Damon, and George Carlin(actually I think they're the only ones). This movie, from a technical standpoint, is probably one of Smith's more visually appealing works as well (there's actually some camera movement in this one). It is full of all the vulgar language that fans expect of Mr. Smith's films, so no one can say that he's gone soft or anything.

This movie proves that the man can do serious writing and he isn't just all about the dick and fart jokes (yes Chasing Amy did have plenty of dick and fart jokes so don't say that that was his most serious). As much as everyone always says that Chasing Amy as his most personal film, this one beats it by a longshot. He started writing it one night after watching his wife put their daughter to bed and wondered, "What would my life be like if she died during childbirth?" The next morning the first 50 pages of the first draft were done. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

So for being quite a touching film, as well as (as far as I'm concerned) one of his best films, I give Kevin Smith's
Jersey Girl ²²²1/2 out of 5

Youngblood

April 27, 2005

Watch it boy or I'll give ya a shot!!!!

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see what's so special about getting shots at the bar. I mean, if your going to get a drink why not spend the extra buck or whatever on a beer. It'll last longer. I guess if you just want to get drunk that might be ok, but I also don't see the point of setting a goal for getting drunk. As the Barenaked Ladies said, "Drinking just to get drunk is a waste of precious booze". The way I see it, you should just go out to have a good time and if you get loaded then you get loaded.

Whenever someone wins big on the VLT's they always buy a round of shots, and if they get me one thats fine but I still would rather have
a beer. Even if its a cheap Jackass that really doesn't taste good, I'd still rather have it over a shot. That way I can sit and enjoy it and that person can know that I have enjoyed thier gift, rather than having this shot that when they blink they miss me taking it.

I also just don't like the taste of shots. They don't appeal to me. Some may see this as odd considerng that I'm in the Guiness Club and there are so many people who can't stand the taste of Guiness. It really doesn't matter what it is I just really don't like them...except Jager...Jager is alllrrrright.

So I guess I have found my exception with Jager, but I still would prefer a pint of Guiness over a shot anyday...or alot of other beers besides Guiness...Honeybrown, Kokanee, Kieths, Kronenburg, Canadian...not Boh...I'd rather drink piss, but for those who have drank Boh, it's not that far off.

Youngblood

April 26, 2005

I'll be damned it's...it's...A POST!!

COSBY TO FIGHT 11 WOMEN. Click on the link to see what the article I’m taking about. Now if you don’t read the article in question you might be wondering why the hell Bill Cosby would fight 11 women. Is he going to get in the ring with them and have some kind of royal rumble? No, in fact its actually about a bunch of women taking him to court because they are accusing him of drugging and assaulting them. You know, the usual Hollywood thing.

But when I first read that headline that was the first thing that popped into my head; the image of Bill Cosby getting into the ring and squaring off against 11 women. You gotta love the people that come up with these headlines. If they're not coming up with the most cheesy headlines like "The Buttler Did It"(After Rocky Butler put on a show at the Labour Day game a few years back), they're coming up with some of the dumbest ones "Laxative helps remove Earwax"(from the Tonight Show). How do these people get jobs as Headline writers? Is this what they decided to do with thier journalism degree? The least they can do is proofread their work, they're only like 5 words long. And do they think they're funny? Are they trying to be funny or do they realize that they're just really cheazy? Or are they trying to be full of cheeze?
In all honesty though, I couldn't do thier job. Most of the time I don't even read the entire headline, because my attention span is so low, so how could I sit and read the article and write the headline. But wait...by looking at some of these headlines they don't even do that. I think I just found a my new career!
Youngblood

April 19, 2005

The Real Animal Kingdom

Whenever I go home for a visit, I always end up watching the squirrel that lives in my moms yard (or garage or under the deck. I don’t know were). It runs around and jumps of this and that and eats bird seed; you know normal squirrel stuff. But I wonder if it’s doing that because it knows I’m watching it. Do animals behave certain ways because they know people are watching them? Do they just do what’s expected of them?

I think so. Once we’re done watching them they drop the act and go back to their normal thing. It makes sense. Do you think a cat actually wants to be licking his own nuts? No! Of course he doesn’t! But we expect him to so he just does it. He knows that if we see him do it we’ll all have a laugh, so he does it.

What I’d like to see is just a family of kangaroos just hanging out at A&W; on their way to a family reunion. Or see a herd of zebras go for an after work drink. Of course there would have be various different bars for the animals. You couldn’t have a lion and zebra going to the same bar, because the zebras would just get eaten. And the lions wouldn’t go there just because it’s just the rules. You don’t go into the zebra’s bar and eat them. If you want to eat one you have to wait until some camera crew is watching you while your trying to sleep one day. You give them a show for their documentary, and then send the zebra’s family an apology accompanied by a fruit basket and a bunch of cash. But if a zebra walks into the lion’s bar, they’re just asking for it. Whatever happens they deserve it; same as it works in the human world.

I’d like to sit and chat with some animals, and get some of their feedback on some stuff. Like this whole alien/cow mutilation thing. I’d like to get the cow’s side of the story. See if the aliens are actually mutilating the cows, or if my theory is right and the cows are just randomly exploding (I’d love to see that; a cow just randomly explode while your driving by one day…gotta put that in a movie sometime).

Youngblood

April 17, 2005

Look more pictures!
















Over the weekend I bought and read these two comics. Now,
The Silver Surfer isn't usually what I read. I'm more into the X-Men type stuff, but something caught my eye about these two. One was the fact that it was only a 2 issue mini-series. The other I think was the price. Can't go wrong for 65 cents each.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were also a good read. The story is Galactus(a big immortal cosmic being who eats planets) comes to Earth and is worshipped as a God. So then the Silver Surfer comes out of hiding to show the people of earth that this "God" that they worship is just here to destroy them. But instead of doing it himself he lets them destroy themselves.

Sounds pretty simple right? Well yeah it is, from a good versus evil kind of standpoint, but it does have a message in there about religion. The two issues have people killing for their beliefs; people turning away from family members because of their beliefs; and one man exploiting others beliefs for his own personal gain; showing how far people will go because of what they believe. As bad as it is to think about it, it is the truth. Those things happen all the time and have been happening since the beginning of time. It shows the people of Earth being duped by Galactus so easily and in the end the Surfer realizes that "Surely this is why they so often fall to the prey of tyrants and despots", because people so often just want someone else to lead them; someone to do their thinking for them.

So to sum up, these 2 comics were not just 48 pages of crude artwork (the art really was crude. The ads were better drawn than most of the the panels), with a good versus evil story, it actually held a message which can teach,and (I know I've said this before) proves that comics can be a legit

April 14, 2005

The new look

As you can tell there's been a little change to the blog. It'll be doing alot of that in the next little while. I'm working on a new look, but I think this is a good start. Check the side menu. There's link to some of my photography, and now there's more than just two pictures there, so check it out. I'd type more but I have to go and pretend to study for awhile.

Youngblood

April 13, 2005

My Fortress of Solitude


So here it is My Fortress of Solitude. The place I sit and write all these wonderful posts So lets run through the shot shall we:

A: My computer. As you can see I have a post in the works onscreen as always, because that's what I do. I take my valuable time and create informative, funny and....ummm...I guess that's the only kind of posts I do. Oh ya and raving lunatic posts.
B: My Pictures. The place I look for my inspiration. Who wouldn't be inspired by the goofyness of Tim(I mean that in a good fun way), the cute smile of the Jamie, the intelect of Mike and Santa Clause, the dance moves of Rene, and Nick playing air guitar with his crotch in Curtis' face.
C: My action figures. The Punisher on top and Iron Man down below. My comic book inspired rants stem from these two giants of the comics industry. It gets kind of rough though sometimes when they clash on ideas. That's when the heavy artillery breaks out and hide under a blanket and/or in my closet.
D: My CD's. Who wouldn't be inspired by great artists and the songs they write. Like Metallica - St. Anger, Weezer - In the Garage, and that unforgetable John Frusciante song: Your Pussy's Glued to a Tree that's on fire.
E: My Keyboard. Kindo of self-explanitory.
F: Empty glasses. At one time they were filled with a magical liquid. Beer? Intelligence Inhancer? Water? We'll never know will we?
G: Pre-written entries. I don't just write these things on the fly you know. Sometimes I do, but giveme a freaking break! You think this stuff just comes out when I call apon it. I wish!...and so do you.....
H: Speakers. The place my insiration comes from....and some kick ass tunes too!

So that's about it. I hope you find it as informative as it wasn't.

Youngblood

April 12, 2005

Education dollars at work

As this semester draws to a close, I thought I’d draw on what I’ve learnt of the past few months:

  • French kicks ass! This has nothing to do with the language itself, but I have never met so many cute girls so fast.
  • Investing in comic books can pay off
  • Animation isn’t for me
  • The KKK had a very powerful influence in Saskatchewan during the mid 1920’s up until the depression when people realized how stupid they looked (in the clothing department and in ideology)
  • Mid 60’s modern art cinema blows!
  • The bathroom on the first floor of the Riddel Centre is one of the nicest bathrooms I’ve ever seen
  • The Owl on a Friday night is not the place for me, but it’s alright in the afternoon and for an after class brew Monday nights
  • The ONEitude is directly proportional to the COLDitude of the ONE. A ONE that isn't COLD is scarcely a ONE at all (click here to find out what the fuck I’m talking about)
  • Smokers can fuck off and stop bitching to me about having to go outside for a smoke. I DON’T CARE!!! I NEVER HAVE AND I NEVER WILL! (I never learnt that, I just knew it and had to get that off my chest)
  • Regardless of what my older brother might say The State is actually a pretty cool place
  • You can get records that are clear (so cool!)
  • Devo and Mike made the stoop too popular and too much of a kick ass place to be and now every time I walk by there’s someone there. The tiles around it should be turned into a disco floor and there should be a velvet rope that you are only allowed inside of if the big guy that opens it lets you.
  • The novelty of Micheal Moore has worn off. As much as I like how he badmouths Satan himself, it’s getting a little old. Let someone else do it for awhile.
  • Degrassi (in any of its forms) is some of the greatest programming ever to be broadcast on television (and the DVD's are cheap)
  • Don't get food at Pizza Pizza in the Riddel Centre after about 4:00 because chances are the slice you get has been sitting there since about 2:00
  • I don't care about how much better Linux is. I use Windows. It's what I've got. I know Microsoft is the devil, but I still don't care about Linux.

That's about it for now. Throughout the month I'll give you some more as they come to me and then do my year end wrap up and get ready for the summer.

Youngblood

April 11, 2005

Huston...we have a fuck up

So the other day I’m putting a new roll of film into my camera, and I noticed something interesting about it. Now, this film came from a 5 pack of Fuji 400 ISO film. But I noticed, as I was inserting the roll, that it was actually 800 ISO. No I realize that to many of you that means absolutely nothing. Chances are many of you don’t even know what ISO means. But that’s not important here. What is important though is the fact that I got one roll of film, which was faster than what I actually purchased. Good deal hey. You know what they say, faster is better. I was pretty happy about this deal that I got.

Later I was thinking about it. I was happy about someone’s fuck up. It’s not a new thing. People do it all the time. Like, when you get more change back than you should have. It’s a fun feeling. But you’re taking happiness for someone else’s fault. Does that make you a bad person? Is it any different than laughing at someone who’s made a mistake? You don’t know how that person might feel about that mistake later. Like if you’re at the bar, and give the waitress a 10, and by accident she gives you a 20 for change (happened to me). Sure you feel pretty good about it, but what about that waitress. Sure she probably wouldn’t care, if she even realized that she did it, but you never know. I guess what I’m saying is that in society we take joy from peoples fuck ups all too often. I’m not saying that I don’t do it, and that the rest of you are hell spawns for doing it. I know I do it all the time; five times a day at least. But I guess I just to recognize the fact that we do it this too much. I know I’m not going to stop, I’m a smart ass; it’s what I do. Should we stop this practice? Maybe. In a perfect world we should. But since when is this a perfect world? So lets not do it. In fact lets do it more and see how much faster the world turns to shit. It’ll be a nice sociological study.
Youngblood

April 06, 2005

Bonds instantly to your skin

Bonds instantly to your skin. Now there's a warning I wish I would have read. I think crazy glue would bond like a second or two after you apply it. It's a little safer don't you think. They could do it. I mean, if they could make it bond instantly they should be able to make it bond in a few seconds. All they probably have to do is cut back the amount of something when they make it. It only makes sense. If your making something and you want less of it, you just reduce an ingredient. Like if a cake is too sweet, just don't put so much sugar in the next time.

I know I would buy that kind of glue. It sure would reduce the amount of times I have to stick my hand under the tap to try disolve the glue so the shoe will come off. Maybe next time I'll leave the shoe on my hand. I could be a super hero. SHOE-MAN. He runs at the speed of light. When his legs get tired he runs with his hands. When I'm needed they could project a big shoe in the sky. I'll throw laces at criminals to tie them up. And my side kick would be...wrist...watch...boy...NO...girl. Definetly girl. I ain't keeping no young boy in a cave. I don't want to be no Bruce 'Micheal Jackson' Wayne (get it. 'cause Bruce Wayne is Batman...and Robin's a young boy.....ah forget it!). But would it be worse to keep a young girl in a cave? Batman is these days (the new Robin's a girl). How about I don't have a side kick and just steer clear of this whole ugly mess. Yeah that'd be alright.

Youngb---

Oh! Wait a sec, I was talking about glue wasn't I? Yeah, I was, and I'm not done yet......um....yeah...how about that glue hey....sure is sticky....um.....I guess i was done. How 'bout that, eh? [sound of running away from computer]

Youngblood

April 05, 2005

Youngblood at the Movies

I just finished watching a classic. No it wasn’t Gone With the Wind or Psycho or even a remotely well made movie. It’s a movie that I think all film students should see, not for its good qualities but as an example of what not to do. What I just watched was the worst movie of all time. I am of course talking about Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Oh, how I could make fun of this movie, and I will. But I’m going to, once again, try and give it a fair look and try and give Mr. Ed Wood as much credit as I can, because he needs all he can get.

First lets go over all the “legendary” mistakes that this gem has to offer. There’s the tombstone that falls over. In Ed’s defense it was made of cardboard so it was pretty likely to fall over whether someone fell on it or not. Then there’s the changing of day to night going from shot to shot. First it’s night and people are at the cemetery, then two bodies are discovered. Still night, the police get in their car at the police station (I have to add that the guy driving can’t open the door so he has to reach through the open window to unlock it), then as stated in the film “minutes later they arrive at the cemetery” and it is day, then they walk into the cemetery and it’s night again. Finally the flying saucers: Yes you can see the string holding them up. Legend has it that they were hubcaps, pie pans, pizza pans and paper plates, but they actually were kids model flying saucers. So there’s some credit towards Ed, he went for realism on that one.

Now going on to the script. I can’t give Ed any credit here at all. He can’t write. His dialoged is terrible and the story is just…it’s terrible. Here’s some examples of the dialogue: “Visits? That would indicate visitors”; “future events such as these will effect you in the future”; “Inspector Clay is dead, murdered, and somebody’s responsible”; “they attacked a town, a small town I'll admit, but never the less a town of people, people who died”. I could go on forever, but I think you’ve got the gist of it.

Let’s talk about Bela Legosi’s scenes know. He died four days after filming started, but instead of re-shooting his scenes they just retooled the movie to almost, kind of, make sense with what they had. The same shot of Legosi running out of a bush is used 4 times. And the scene at the beginning with him smelling a flower was just a home movie that he and Ed Wood made and Ed found a way to get it in the movie. He had to, this was supposed to be Bela Legosi’s last movie. It was its selling point. So he had to figure out a way to get him in there. And speaking of that home movie, in it the narrator says that he’s grieving the loss of his dead wife. But in the scene before it he’s at a funeral and it say’s that it’s his brother who just died.

Now as much bad things are in this movie, you have to give Ed Wood credit for one thing: he had ambition. There’s no doubt about it. What other person would get all his friends baptized just so a church would fund his movie. And all these things like about inaccuracies like day to night and tombstones falling over, it’s not because he thought no one would notice it, he just couldn’t afford to re-shoot the scenes. Film costs money and that’s something that Ed didn’t have. The church wasn’t too keen on making a movie about grave robbers, and they weren’t about to give him more money to do it. Because he didn’t have any money he also couldn’t afford permits to shoot out in the street, so he shot as much as he could in the soundstage, which explains the day to night thing. All he had at the sound stage was a black backdrop and some clouds. Another way he cut his costs was using as much stock footage as he could. At least in this movie his use of the footage makes sense. In Glen or Glenda it makes no sense at all. Legosi’s sitting in a chair then suddenly there’s buffalo running. Make’s no sense.

So Ed did what he could with what he had: no money and a non-union crew. At least he was proud of the work he did. So for all Ed’s hard work scamming churches and cutting corners on costs, and giving me a whole lot of laughs I am giving Plan 9 from Outer Space ……1/2 out of 5.

Youngblood

April 04, 2005

How is it any greener on the other side?

To start off the day I’ll give you the answer to Friday’s question. The answer is: des raisins secs. Oh Tony you were close, but not close enough…smart-ass(ah you know I’m just kidding). Now I recently realized that I’m not living up to the “crazy thoughts that run through my head” title. That combined with complaints about not doing decent posts, I’ve decided to return to my old ways, at least for a short time. Maybe this will jumpstart my brain and turn it back on again. So here we go!

Ahhh spring is upon us. Birds are chirping, snow is melting, and grass is getting ready to grow. Sounds pretty good huh? Wrong! Ya birds and the disappearance of snow are good things, but who like to cut the grass?

Now I know what some of you are thinking: “you’re planning on cutting grass as a summer job. Why wouldn’t you want the grass to grow?” Well as far as work goes, I want to the grass to grow, otherwise things get more boring than they already are. But as far as everywhere else is concerned, the grass can stay where it is. They need to invent some kind of grass that doesn’t grow after a certain height. I guess you could just get Astroturf, but it’s just not the same. Some football team’s going to start practicing on your lawn, and that could get annoying. But I guess Astroturf is the only way to go if you don’t want to have to cut grass. I guess you could get some neighbor kid to do it. But then you’d have to pay him and buy gas for the mower. In the long run Astroturf would be more cost effective. Think about it: no paying some kid to cut you’re lawn when you’re too lazy; no gas for the mower; and hell, no mower period. Yup, Astroturf is definitely the way to go, even if you have to put up with “going nowhere” football players. You could have fun with it actually. Heckle them and tell them that they’ll never make it anywhere in their career and that they suck. Someone has to tell them sometime.

Youngblood

April 01, 2005

Question of the day

Some sad news today. I just discovered that one of my favorite comedians, Mitch Hedberg, died. No details have been released but a source says that it was a heart attack. If you want to read the the article about it click here. So rest in peace Mitch, where ever you are.

On the lighter side: Today in french class myself and the lovely Karen, stumbled across a perplexing question. We found out what it the answer is but had a good laugh before that. So here it is:

If raisin is french for grape, what's raisin in french?

Like I said we found out the answer, so I'll give it too you on monday. Until then, try and solve my little question. Good Luck!

Youngblood