I've been having interesting conversations with people lately, most of them being along the lines of:
me: I'M SO BORED! WHY AM I SO BORED?! LETS HANG OUT AND DO SOMETHING
them: I don't live in Garland
me: oh right...so...hows it goin'?
I'm still in Garland, and its weird because its like 1 part I want to be here and two parts I have to be here, baked at 109 degrees for 3 months.
I mean I have to be here, because I can take summer classes here at like 1/50 the cost as taking classes anywhere else. I don't want to be here because my friends all live in Austin, and my girlfriend lives in Houston. I myself kinda live in San Marcos, but not until August. So for the next 3 months, I have to find a job, go to classes (at 8 am) try and read and write enough to not feel like I wasted this time, turn 21, not see my girlfriend for a month while she's in Germany, or at least German owned territory, but still find the time to see her and my friends and not neglect my parents before she leaves.
more or less the same, right?
Now this is what I'm thinking: If I ask my parents if I can not take summer I classes, then I would only have to find a job, one less thing to get in the way of seeing April and my friends for the month April will be here. Right? I mean I could still take a summer II class, then come home and take a winter class for the course I didn't take here this summer. Since I never take winter classes, this would still be knocking out the same number of classes that I normally would in a year. So really this is just a win-win situation.
Now theres only 2 problems with that really.
1) I might get a job with UPS as a mail handler, which from the description seems to be a Monday-Friday job anyway, and since school is only Monday-Thursday Everyone weekend would always be free. This wouldn't be the optimum time to visit April, but its something
1a) If I didn't have a job, I could see her from Thursday afternoon-Sunday, and if I didn't have school I could see her saturday-monday because my Job would'nt start until either 10pm or 3am
2) Asking my parents to do this might not go over so well. My Dad would probably understand, and even though he might disapprove I think he would be fine with it. However the main problem is with my Mom, who would be convinced of the fallowing:
If I don't go to summer I, I won't want to go to summer II. If I don't go to summer II I won't go back to school in the fall. If I don't go back in the Fall I won't go back at all, it'll all be for nothing and I'll never really do anything with my life and she won't have grandkids.
So I don't think I have the guts to ask them, because I just don't want to deal with THAT.
But I should, because its not an unreasonable request, and I'm almost 21. I just shouldn't be afraid of my parents anymore.
Its just this crappy point in my life where I'm not an adult, but also am. I'm going to be 21, and will have an actual apartment and a job and everything; by all discernible measure, I'll be an adult. On the other hand, I've never done a thing to show that I will be an adult.
I think thats why the road trip is kind of like a rite of passage. It shows you have the ability to make your own decisions and actually just make it on your own, even for only a few days. Its like when you're 6 and run away for a few hours, only to come back because you missed your family so much and it was dinner time anyway.
Like maybe if I just made a trip over to some place, just on my own, I would learn something about myself or at least have a bitchin' time.
I dunno, i'm just rambling at this point and should be asleep
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Plot Vs. character driven stories
I keep getting into debates with this guy, which basically end up being about whats better: heavy plot, or heavy character development.
For example, he loves LOST but hates Heroes. The reason being that LOST is vary character driven, each episode focuses on one character at a time and tells a little more of their story before they went to the island. Heroes on the other hand throws a lot more action and story at you then character development. I'm basically the exact opposite, I've started to hate LOST because it never goes anywhere, but I love Heroes because it gives you a vary good story, at the sacrifice of focusing on the characters in depth.
If you ask me, a story doesn't need to go that in depth on a character for you to get a good enough feel for how this person feels. Actions speak louder then words. We don't need a character to have an inner monologue about how much he hates criminals to get that point across. If he flips out and beats the crap out of every criminal he sees we get the same message, and with a lot more entertainment. And in all honesty to continuously throw at us what this character's convictions are is kind of insulting as viewers, as if we couldn't figure this out on our own.
This is also a problem I have with a lot of classic literature I read. I can't truly get into a book if I think the story is boring. Fiction is all about conflict, it all boils down to a choice the main character has to make. When the choice is something I can really feel for, like "do I use this power for good or my own personal gain" I'll love it. However if the choice is little more then "Do I marry this one person who is of my social class, or this other person who is not" then I don't give a rat's ass about any of it.
This mainly accounts for why I love superheroes so much. Their actions actually count and have meaning. When Spider-man rejects the symbiont suit he rejects having much greater power in exchange for the clarity to use his limited power responsibly. When Hester decides to make her A look nice...well...some people are kinda shocked but its mostly just business as usual.
Now I'm not saying everything needs to be a fly by the seat of your pants thrill ride, heck even heavily character driven stories can be good. Take Crash for example, this is all about the human interactions between people, everyone in that movie was connected in some way and you really got a good feel for the characters in there. But they also let the actions of these people speak for themselves. The raciest cop puts his prejudice behind him when he really needs to. The other cop who wears the mask of Political correctness turns out to have problems of his own. These are all revealed more through what these characters do then what they say in conversation or through body language or anything else.
Maybe thats just me though, what do you think?
For example, he loves LOST but hates Heroes. The reason being that LOST is vary character driven, each episode focuses on one character at a time and tells a little more of their story before they went to the island. Heroes on the other hand throws a lot more action and story at you then character development. I'm basically the exact opposite, I've started to hate LOST because it never goes anywhere, but I love Heroes because it gives you a vary good story, at the sacrifice of focusing on the characters in depth.
If you ask me, a story doesn't need to go that in depth on a character for you to get a good enough feel for how this person feels. Actions speak louder then words. We don't need a character to have an inner monologue about how much he hates criminals to get that point across. If he flips out and beats the crap out of every criminal he sees we get the same message, and with a lot more entertainment. And in all honesty to continuously throw at us what this character's convictions are is kind of insulting as viewers, as if we couldn't figure this out on our own.
This is also a problem I have with a lot of classic literature I read. I can't truly get into a book if I think the story is boring. Fiction is all about conflict, it all boils down to a choice the main character has to make. When the choice is something I can really feel for, like "do I use this power for good or my own personal gain" I'll love it. However if the choice is little more then "Do I marry this one person who is of my social class, or this other person who is not" then I don't give a rat's ass about any of it.
This mainly accounts for why I love superheroes so much. Their actions actually count and have meaning. When Spider-man rejects the symbiont suit he rejects having much greater power in exchange for the clarity to use his limited power responsibly. When Hester decides to make her A look nice...well...some people are kinda shocked but its mostly just business as usual.
Now I'm not saying everything needs to be a fly by the seat of your pants thrill ride, heck even heavily character driven stories can be good. Take Crash for example, this is all about the human interactions between people, everyone in that movie was connected in some way and you really got a good feel for the characters in there. But they also let the actions of these people speak for themselves. The raciest cop puts his prejudice behind him when he really needs to. The other cop who wears the mask of Political correctness turns out to have problems of his own. These are all revealed more through what these characters do then what they say in conversation or through body language or anything else.
Maybe thats just me though, what do you think?
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
quick notes
1)I think a good compromise might be to just take summer I or summer II classes, maybe not both so it doesn't feel like I spent my whole summer in a class room, but still do something productive.
2) My dad and nick have something in common, they both duplicate whatever annoying noise they hear, though Dad prefers Beeps and things while Nick prefers to mimic the noise you made when you burped.
3) The fallowing things suck:
a) Moving
b) Being old
c) Being responsible
d) Company policy
e) Things without spell check
f) not knowing how to spell properly
g) Not knowing where to put your computer, so you just use your mom's
h) Facebook, there I said it
i) Gorilla Warfare Honestly I just love this picture
4) My dad really enjoys sarcasm
5) I think if i had watched the Cosby show as a kid instead of fresh prince, I'd be a better person now.
6) Nothing impresses a girl more then being able to perform "who's on first" by yourself and not look silly. Really that should just impress anyone.
7) You know you need direction in your life when you see an add for truck drivers and think to yourself "those guys know whats up"
2) My dad and nick have something in common, they both duplicate whatever annoying noise they hear, though Dad prefers Beeps and things while Nick prefers to mimic the noise you made when you burped.
3) The fallowing things suck:
a) Moving
b) Being old
c) Being responsible
d) Company policy
e) Things without spell check
f) not knowing how to spell properly
g) Not knowing where to put your computer, so you just use your mom's
h) Facebook, there I said it
i) Gorilla Warfare Honestly I just love this picture
4) My dad really enjoys sarcasm
5) I think if i had watched the Cosby show as a kid instead of fresh prince, I'd be a better person now.
6) Nothing impresses a girl more then being able to perform "who's on first" by yourself and not look silly. Really that should just impress anyone.
7) You know you need direction in your life when you see an add for truck drivers and think to yourself "those guys know whats up"
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Summer thoughts
Ok, so I’m home for the summer, and I don't really know what I want to do. I definitely want to get a job this summer and save the hell up. I tried this whole "being broke" thing for the last year or so and let me tell you something, it sucks. So priority 1 this summer is a job, which shouldn't be that bad, I’ve already gotten a call back for an interview with Borders, and they where the first people I applied to.
If there’s one thing I got out of working at Target for a year, its that working retail for a year looks a hell of a lot better then not putting anything down under that "past job experience" section of the application.
The second priority should be summer classes I guess. This is where I'm a little shaky, because in all honesty I don't want to take summer classes. But the thing is, I really SHOULD take summer classes. Its cheaper, it gets me out of college quicker, and it'll be easier so I'll probably make a B or heck even an A if I really buckle down.
But its boring. And its every day. And its less free time, which means less April time and less friends time, and less doing something epic this summer. And I’ve been meaning to do something epic since I was like 16.
So the question is: What do you do when you SHOULD do something, but don't necessarily HAVE to, especially when you don't want to.
Its like going to the dentist, there’s no law that says I have to go to the dentist, and I sure as heck don't like to, but I mean...I really should every now and again.
I wanna meet the jerk who invented responsibility and kick him in the nuts.
If there’s one thing I got out of working at Target for a year, its that working retail for a year looks a hell of a lot better then not putting anything down under that "past job experience" section of the application.
The second priority should be summer classes I guess. This is where I'm a little shaky, because in all honesty I don't want to take summer classes. But the thing is, I really SHOULD take summer classes. Its cheaper, it gets me out of college quicker, and it'll be easier so I'll probably make a B or heck even an A if I really buckle down.
But its boring. And its every day. And its less free time, which means less April time and less friends time, and less doing something epic this summer. And I’ve been meaning to do something epic since I was like 16.
So the question is: What do you do when you SHOULD do something, but don't necessarily HAVE to, especially when you don't want to.
Its like going to the dentist, there’s no law that says I have to go to the dentist, and I sure as heck don't like to, but I mean...I really should every now and again.
I wanna meet the jerk who invented responsibility and kick him in the nuts.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Tail Etiquette
Ok, so I was thinking to myself today, "what if people had monkey tails?"
I mainly wonder if it would be inappropriate to touch someone else's tail. I mean in a social gathering, its "ok" to touch someone on the shoulder or arm, because it shows an interest without violating someone’s comfort zone. At the same time its not really acceptable (looking at you Nick) to touch someone’s leg because its too close to the groin and suggests something of a sexual nature, even if that’s not the intent.
Now with a tail though, its close to the butt, so that would make me think that touching it would be a no-no. On the other hand though, touching it with YOUR tail? seems alright to me. Though I bet it would be better if you knew the person before hand.
Also, I bet the schools would regulate the heck out of tail holes in pants. If we had tails, we'd need a hole in our pants for them to stick out, and you know the girls would always be yelled at for having larger then necessary tail holes. Then there'd be the real hottiez, who don't have tail holes but who's pants have like a big U in the back that go down to the tail. Then of course the schools would get fed up with it and we'd all have to wear them tucked into our pants! Way to ruin it for us all again ladies.
on a side note, don't you hate spelling? I sure as hell do
I mainly wonder if it would be inappropriate to touch someone else's tail. I mean in a social gathering, its "ok" to touch someone on the shoulder or arm, because it shows an interest without violating someone’s comfort zone. At the same time its not really acceptable (looking at you Nick) to touch someone’s leg because its too close to the groin and suggests something of a sexual nature, even if that’s not the intent.
Now with a tail though, its close to the butt, so that would make me think that touching it would be a no-no. On the other hand though, touching it with YOUR tail? seems alright to me. Though I bet it would be better if you knew the person before hand.
Also, I bet the schools would regulate the heck out of tail holes in pants. If we had tails, we'd need a hole in our pants for them to stick out, and you know the girls would always be yelled at for having larger then necessary tail holes. Then there'd be the real hottiez, who don't have tail holes but who's pants have like a big U in the back that go down to the tail. Then of course the schools would get fed up with it and we'd all have to wear them tucked into our pants! Way to ruin it for us all again ladies.
on a side note, don't you hate spelling? I sure as hell do
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
My biggest fears
1) Jeb Bush in '08
2) The south rising again
3) this guy
4) Robot apocalypse
5) Kitlers
6) Super monsters
7) Nazi super science
8) Gorilla warfare
9) well trained zombies
10) Public speaking
2) The south rising again
3) this guy
4) Robot apocalypse
5) Kitlers
6) Super monsters
7) Nazi super science
8) Gorilla warfare
9) well trained zombies
10) Public speaking
Bad webcomics
So its no secret that I love web-comics and want to start mine up again. With this in mind I always like to look at other web-comics and ask myself if I can do better, how I would do better or just how this punchline could of been done differently.
If you'll look to the right, you'll see other web-comics who already have achieved perfection, which serve as a type of inspiration as to what I want to do.
The fallowing are examples of comics that I also gain inspiration of, in the sense of knowing what not to do.
I Drew this is one of the worst web comics I've ever read. The premise is simple enough, really liberal dude makes fun of Republicans. This ends up sucking though, because thats the only thing that ever happens, and not even in a smart Daily show kind of way.
Most of the comics boil down to this:
guy 1: States liberal belief
guy 2: Really angry Republican response
guy 1: Clarification of belief, pointing out obvious flaw in guy 2's reasoning
guy 2: Ignorant statement
Also, the main character is a bald eagle with a silly hat, and he makes strips like this: http://www.idrewthis.org/d/20070209.html
The other example of what not to do, is Wicked Powered a comic set around the idea of "these lasers are awesome, go buy them, heres some hot girls"
Basically this is just bad writing at its finest, because the joke is always the poor dialog between the characters. Bad dialog jokes work out great sometimes, like in this guys other comic Sore thumbs, but when thats the ONLY joke you tell, well, you'll find the horse died a long time ago, long before you started beating it.
If you'll look to the right, you'll see other web-comics who already have achieved perfection, which serve as a type of inspiration as to what I want to do.
The fallowing are examples of comics that I also gain inspiration of, in the sense of knowing what not to do.
I Drew this is one of the worst web comics I've ever read. The premise is simple enough, really liberal dude makes fun of Republicans. This ends up sucking though, because thats the only thing that ever happens, and not even in a smart Daily show kind of way.
Most of the comics boil down to this:
guy 1: States liberal belief
guy 2: Really angry Republican response
guy 1: Clarification of belief, pointing out obvious flaw in guy 2's reasoning
guy 2: Ignorant statement
Also, the main character is a bald eagle with a silly hat, and he makes strips like this: http://www.idrewthis.org/d/20070209.html
The other example of what not to do, is Wicked Powered a comic set around the idea of "these lasers are awesome, go buy them, heres some hot girls"
Basically this is just bad writing at its finest, because the joke is always the poor dialog between the characters. Bad dialog jokes work out great sometimes, like in this guys other comic Sore thumbs, but when thats the ONLY joke you tell, well, you'll find the horse died a long time ago, long before you started beating it.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Horror Films
I love zombie movies because they’re the only type of horror movies that really scare me and that I find interesting.
The basic idea of a horror film, once you strip it down to its basic elements is Man vs. ___ where blank is some type of evil thing that wants to kill you.
Now we move up a bit, and that ____ becomes usually one of two things. Either it’s a supernatural monster (vampire, demon, werewolf, mummy and so on) or it’s a human (the dude from Scream, the dude from I know what you did last summer, the guy from the hitcher) or some weird mix of a supernatural entity, but is ultimately human (chucky, the mutants from the hills have eyes, the guy with a chainsaw in texas chainsaw massacre) and for the most part these movies never really take with me.
Now if you’re fighting a supernatural monster, that can’t be killed, then well it was nice knowing you, here’s hoping you either don’t die in a really bad way or at die first so you don’t have to suffer through the last hour and a half of a bad movie. Movies like The grudge and the Jason movies are like this. They can’t ever really die, and in the end the movie should just be called “hey man, watch these 8 people die, its really boring”
If the monster CAN be killed, well that’s a start on the right track, and this really has the best potential to be a good horror flick. It all then boils down to the monster itself and how it can die. A vampire for example, is a pretty good monster to fight. Its really powerful with all these weird abilities, but in the end all you need is holy water, something pointy or business hours to kill it. This is why most vampires you see prey on hookers in the night or drunk/stoned club hoppers because its an easy kill. Set a vampire against someone with half a brain and their whole leather pant wearing world is turned upside down. Unfortunately this usually leads to the introduction of the super vampire, which is of a pure bloodline and yada yada yada…basically its super Dracula who can only be killed by a werewolf with silver teeth and those have been extinct for 1000 years…UNTIL NOW.
Lastly you have the human killer. These guys are people with problems and a knife who are hell bent on killing you and your 8 buddies. Now, I’m no soldier, and I don’t really believe in guns or anything but damn people, its not that hard to stop one guy when there’s like 4 of you fighting him. Even if this guy does turn out to be some kind of ex-marine who could kick your ass and kill you 5 times with his bare hands, you can always just leave. If you can win a horror film by just leaving the area, then why the hell didn’t you do that when the first member of the cast died?
This is why zombie films are so good in my opinion. The monster is easy to kill when there’s just one of them, but there usually is not just one, there’s at least a small town’s worth. You can’t really just leave the area and live because in your typical zombie flick the crisis is all over the place, you can only go to some place that is safer then where you are now. Then there are other issues you have to deal with as well, like survival. If you can’t go to the grocery store because there are several hundred zombies between you and it, how are you going to eat in a week? If they start to get into the place you’re taking shelter in, where will you go? Then there’s always the issue of what to do with those who get bitten. In a typical zombie film, when someone is bitten by a zombie its only a matter of time before they themselves turn into one, so what do you do about that?
Land of the dead dealt with this pretty well I thought. There is this part where one of the main characters gets bitten, so he knows he’s going to die and become a zombie and his friend just asks him: Do you want me to shoot you? To which he responds “nah, I think I’ll see how the other side lives” and the friend just says his goodbyes and leaves, because honestly, what else can you do?
If you where bitten by a zombie, what would you want to do? Would you want to be shot in the head before you turn into one? What about for those few seconds after you die but before you turn? Or would you just want to be sent outside the walls of wherever you’re staying and become one of them? What would you do if it was someone you loved who was bitten?
Basically I think that if you want a horror film to be good, you need to have a clear chance of victory in the film, but it should also be really hard. This is why I enjoyed the first Saw movie as well. It was scary, because these people still died horrible deaths and everything, but they clearly had a chance to win. I still need to see the next two, but if they’re anything like the first it should be really good.
The basic idea of a horror film, once you strip it down to its basic elements is Man vs. ___ where blank is some type of evil thing that wants to kill you.
Now we move up a bit, and that ____ becomes usually one of two things. Either it’s a supernatural monster (vampire, demon, werewolf, mummy and so on) or it’s a human (the dude from Scream, the dude from I know what you did last summer, the guy from the hitcher) or some weird mix of a supernatural entity, but is ultimately human (chucky, the mutants from the hills have eyes, the guy with a chainsaw in texas chainsaw massacre) and for the most part these movies never really take with me.
Now if you’re fighting a supernatural monster, that can’t be killed, then well it was nice knowing you, here’s hoping you either don’t die in a really bad way or at die first so you don’t have to suffer through the last hour and a half of a bad movie. Movies like The grudge and the Jason movies are like this. They can’t ever really die, and in the end the movie should just be called “hey man, watch these 8 people die, its really boring”
If the monster CAN be killed, well that’s a start on the right track, and this really has the best potential to be a good horror flick. It all then boils down to the monster itself and how it can die. A vampire for example, is a pretty good monster to fight. Its really powerful with all these weird abilities, but in the end all you need is holy water, something pointy or business hours to kill it. This is why most vampires you see prey on hookers in the night or drunk/stoned club hoppers because its an easy kill. Set a vampire against someone with half a brain and their whole leather pant wearing world is turned upside down. Unfortunately this usually leads to the introduction of the super vampire, which is of a pure bloodline and yada yada yada…basically its super Dracula who can only be killed by a werewolf with silver teeth and those have been extinct for 1000 years…UNTIL NOW.
Lastly you have the human killer. These guys are people with problems and a knife who are hell bent on killing you and your 8 buddies. Now, I’m no soldier, and I don’t really believe in guns or anything but damn people, its not that hard to stop one guy when there’s like 4 of you fighting him. Even if this guy does turn out to be some kind of ex-marine who could kick your ass and kill you 5 times with his bare hands, you can always just leave. If you can win a horror film by just leaving the area, then why the hell didn’t you do that when the first member of the cast died?
This is why zombie films are so good in my opinion. The monster is easy to kill when there’s just one of them, but there usually is not just one, there’s at least a small town’s worth. You can’t really just leave the area and live because in your typical zombie flick the crisis is all over the place, you can only go to some place that is safer then where you are now. Then there are other issues you have to deal with as well, like survival. If you can’t go to the grocery store because there are several hundred zombies between you and it, how are you going to eat in a week? If they start to get into the place you’re taking shelter in, where will you go? Then there’s always the issue of what to do with those who get bitten. In a typical zombie film, when someone is bitten by a zombie its only a matter of time before they themselves turn into one, so what do you do about that?
Land of the dead dealt with this pretty well I thought. There is this part where one of the main characters gets bitten, so he knows he’s going to die and become a zombie and his friend just asks him: Do you want me to shoot you? To which he responds “nah, I think I’ll see how the other side lives” and the friend just says his goodbyes and leaves, because honestly, what else can you do?
If you where bitten by a zombie, what would you want to do? Would you want to be shot in the head before you turn into one? What about for those few seconds after you die but before you turn? Or would you just want to be sent outside the walls of wherever you’re staying and become one of them? What would you do if it was someone you loved who was bitten?
Basically I think that if you want a horror film to be good, you need to have a clear chance of victory in the film, but it should also be really hard. This is why I enjoyed the first Saw movie as well. It was scary, because these people still died horrible deaths and everything, but they clearly had a chance to win. I still need to see the next two, but if they’re anything like the first it should be really good.
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