It's a fantastical day in California right now.
-Cali uses more oil than any country (other than the US).
-The 110 has been shut down because a "large pothole" has turned into a giant sinkhole. AWESOME.
-Such a great video. These guys free a lion from Harrod's, raise it until it's too big, rewild it, and then go find it a year later. The lion remembers them! It hangs out with them and introduces them to his wife. Such a heartwarming video.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Humanism + Absurdism
A few random thoughts:
-People who live in Nashville should be called Nashvillains. With that spelling.
-GTA is coming out for Nintendo DS. I may buy one now. Dammit.
-Monkeys and money. Fascinating.
-I just watched Larry Clark's "Kids" and I have to admit I'm very very conflicted on it. I thought there were a number of things it did very well, but I think it was a nihilist film to its core. It tried to show exactly how brutal things could be by dramatizing the hell out of it-I have no doubt that most of those things have happened before, but for all of them to happen to a bunch of 14 year olds in one day is too much. It certainly wasn't realistic and it was unnecessarily dark if you ask me. All the underage sex was actually kind of creepy. That said, it was still pretty well done, an epic morality tale of sorts by showing you exactly what being that fucked up gets you. The only adult in the whole film really was a cabbie who talked about how to be happy. That doesn't really help with an AIDS test. I bought it for like $4 at Best Buy and now feel kind of ripped. Even though I liked the movie (probably), I wanted its brutality to be over quickly and was counting down the minutes until it was over. I'll never watch this movie again. It will probably haunt me anyway.
-Humanism and absurdism- are they compatible? I bring this up because I definitely considered myself both and I just finished reading "Nausea" by Sartre and the conflict came up. Roquentin, the books narrator, struggles with an absurd universe devoid of meaning. He struggles with the idea that there is no divine source of meaning in human life and that life is just a gift that is given without reason that one must accept and choose to enjoy. Similar to Camus, he comes to the conclusion through his narrator that one must enjoy our fate, as meaningless as it may be. In "The Myth of Sisyphus," Camus likens our struggle to that of Sisyphus and says the ultimate question we face is why not commit suicide? Ultimately, even though our lives are meaningless, futile, and take the form of Sisyphus, we must embrace them for what they are. Camus asserts that we must imagine Sisyphus happy. I don't have a problem with any of this, I really do think that I am an absurdist at this point (although I refuse to commit to anything forever).
Here's where it gets tricky: I am also a strong humanist and moralist and believe in right and wrong. Is that incompatible with an absurd universe? I don't necessarily believe it is. In "Nausea," Roquentin's most laughable foil is the Autodidact, a ridiculous humanist who's reading the library alphabetically and molests children. There's no doubt that Roquentin believes that the absurd precludes an embrace of humanism. But let's think about it for a second, what are the implications that would contradict one another? From a positive liberty standpoint, there's no doubt that the absurd is freeing for humans to create, to excel, and to expand without limits. For a thinker like Nietzsche, it would free his ubermensch to become free spirits, create their own values, and exercise their will to power. In his eyes, the church is the ascetic ideal that drags all men down to the herd, restricts what men naturally want to do, etc. So getting rid of that artificial obligation would free men to live up to their potential.
On the other side, where does morality come in? What is the source of negative liberty? The protections that men enjoy today, especially in the West, come at great debt to Christianity. Although the herd mentality represses us, it is a significant part of the doctrine that all men are created equal and the church has been a major player in the human rights movement, directly and indirectly. Rick brought up a great point that law can be effective without such a basis, citing Roman law or British common law. And that's fine, from a legalistic or lawyerly perspective, but I want to get philosophical on it. Pragmatically, he's certainly right. The United States might as well be entirely secular in the way the Supreme Court interprets things, but that's not a philosophical response. Philosophically, to believe in a universe that is devoid of meaning and human life without an inherent one, you must believe that there are commonalities to human experience that can establish universals within humanity that serve as right or wrong. For instance, genocide is wrong, torture is wrong, murder is wrong, theft is wrong, etc. These are simple ideas and on the extreme end of that thought, but certainly comprise the most compelling examples of commonalities that I can think of. You could buy Levinas's argument about the face of the other in "Ethics and Infinity" or subscribe to cosmopolitanism and that might lead you there. But, in the end, you have to think that we can draw a line between nihilism and metaphysics that isn't completely arbitrary. You have to believe that as we better understand our universe and learn from our collective experience as human beings, we can reasonably divine what that line may be. By rising above our subjectivity (although we never can do so completely), we can see the common ground and a more objective reality than the one peddled to us by our cultural biases. I'm not saying there's a definitive objectivity or a final line that can be drawn in the sand, but I think that the philosophical leap of faith that one has to take is that there is that common ground somewhere. Otherwise one must resign oneself to relativism, which is essentially a cleaner name for nihilism. If you are a relativist, you don't really have the right to intercede or impose a morality.
I don't think they are incompatible, but it's certainly a tough question to definitively answer.
-People who live in Nashville should be called Nashvillains. With that spelling.
-GTA is coming out for Nintendo DS. I may buy one now. Dammit.
-Monkeys and money. Fascinating.
-I just watched Larry Clark's "Kids" and I have to admit I'm very very conflicted on it. I thought there were a number of things it did very well, but I think it was a nihilist film to its core. It tried to show exactly how brutal things could be by dramatizing the hell out of it-I have no doubt that most of those things have happened before, but for all of them to happen to a bunch of 14 year olds in one day is too much. It certainly wasn't realistic and it was unnecessarily dark if you ask me. All the underage sex was actually kind of creepy. That said, it was still pretty well done, an epic morality tale of sorts by showing you exactly what being that fucked up gets you. The only adult in the whole film really was a cabbie who talked about how to be happy. That doesn't really help with an AIDS test. I bought it for like $4 at Best Buy and now feel kind of ripped. Even though I liked the movie (probably), I wanted its brutality to be over quickly and was counting down the minutes until it was over. I'll never watch this movie again. It will probably haunt me anyway.
-Humanism and absurdism- are they compatible? I bring this up because I definitely considered myself both and I just finished reading "Nausea" by Sartre and the conflict came up. Roquentin, the books narrator, struggles with an absurd universe devoid of meaning. He struggles with the idea that there is no divine source of meaning in human life and that life is just a gift that is given without reason that one must accept and choose to enjoy. Similar to Camus, he comes to the conclusion through his narrator that one must enjoy our fate, as meaningless as it may be. In "The Myth of Sisyphus," Camus likens our struggle to that of Sisyphus and says the ultimate question we face is why not commit suicide? Ultimately, even though our lives are meaningless, futile, and take the form of Sisyphus, we must embrace them for what they are. Camus asserts that we must imagine Sisyphus happy. I don't have a problem with any of this, I really do think that I am an absurdist at this point (although I refuse to commit to anything forever).
Here's where it gets tricky: I am also a strong humanist and moralist and believe in right and wrong. Is that incompatible with an absurd universe? I don't necessarily believe it is. In "Nausea," Roquentin's most laughable foil is the Autodidact, a ridiculous humanist who's reading the library alphabetically and molests children. There's no doubt that Roquentin believes that the absurd precludes an embrace of humanism. But let's think about it for a second, what are the implications that would contradict one another? From a positive liberty standpoint, there's no doubt that the absurd is freeing for humans to create, to excel, and to expand without limits. For a thinker like Nietzsche, it would free his ubermensch to become free spirits, create their own values, and exercise their will to power. In his eyes, the church is the ascetic ideal that drags all men down to the herd, restricts what men naturally want to do, etc. So getting rid of that artificial obligation would free men to live up to their potential.
On the other side, where does morality come in? What is the source of negative liberty? The protections that men enjoy today, especially in the West, come at great debt to Christianity. Although the herd mentality represses us, it is a significant part of the doctrine that all men are created equal and the church has been a major player in the human rights movement, directly and indirectly. Rick brought up a great point that law can be effective without such a basis, citing Roman law or British common law. And that's fine, from a legalistic or lawyerly perspective, but I want to get philosophical on it. Pragmatically, he's certainly right. The United States might as well be entirely secular in the way the Supreme Court interprets things, but that's not a philosophical response. Philosophically, to believe in a universe that is devoid of meaning and human life without an inherent one, you must believe that there are commonalities to human experience that can establish universals within humanity that serve as right or wrong. For instance, genocide is wrong, torture is wrong, murder is wrong, theft is wrong, etc. These are simple ideas and on the extreme end of that thought, but certainly comprise the most compelling examples of commonalities that I can think of. You could buy Levinas's argument about the face of the other in "Ethics and Infinity" or subscribe to cosmopolitanism and that might lead you there. But, in the end, you have to think that we can draw a line between nihilism and metaphysics that isn't completely arbitrary. You have to believe that as we better understand our universe and learn from our collective experience as human beings, we can reasonably divine what that line may be. By rising above our subjectivity (although we never can do so completely), we can see the common ground and a more objective reality than the one peddled to us by our cultural biases. I'm not saying there's a definitive objectivity or a final line that can be drawn in the sand, but I think that the philosophical leap of faith that one has to take is that there is that common ground somewhere. Otherwise one must resign oneself to relativism, which is essentially a cleaner name for nihilism. If you are a relativist, you don't really have the right to intercede or impose a morality.
I don't think they are incompatible, but it's certainly a tough question to definitively answer.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Travelin' Man
-I'm a travelin' man these days. At the client site in Nashville (although hopefully only for a week). I must admit, it's kind of lonely checking into a hotel with no itinerary other than work in the morning, hanging up your dress shirts, and killing time until you go to bed. I found myself texting, calling, and thinking about my friends/family. I then turned on the TV just to have some noise in the room. I'm sure it will normalize this week, but it's still a weird experience.
-Fantastic essay on Fight Club as a misunderstood film. I didn't realize it was panned by critics like that.
-So excited for Dark Knight.
-Lebron's new shoe is ugly.
-I went surfing this weekend. We went for a lesson with some of the interns and it was amazing. I've been twice before (a long long time ago) and each time I've really loved it and wanted to pursue, but never have. I'm going to this time. I'm buying a board, a rash-guard, and a wet-suit. It's happening. And I'm really stoked on it. It's going to happen.
-I've started reading "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." It's a really interesting idea and a really interesting book, but I can tell that I will tire of the writing a little bit. He has led such an interesting life and has a lot to say, but his pointed approach of showing the failings of "corporatocracy" capitalism-capitalism by force, imperialist capitalism, cronie capitalism, whatever the hell you want to call it-tends to err on the side of a blanket critique of capitalism. I'm all for the idea that saddling third world countries with debt, ensuring that all infrastructure upgrades help foreign businesses first, and using any means necessary to serve those interests is wrong. I know that Shell helped arrange the killing of Nigerian protesters. There's no doubt Western capitalism has done a lot of damage globally by using these means. I'm there. But I don't think it is a problem endemic to capitalism as much as it is to imperialism and empire. Perkins fails to make this distinction and his broken record narrative, which fits commentary at every possible opportunity, has already started to wear thin on me. It's fascinating but a bit grating. I don't want to defend capitalism anymore, but in some of my previous posts I've talked a lot about incentives, human nature, and realism in the face of economic challenges. Macroeconomics are not completely fucked, but anything can be used for good or evil.
-I'm well overdue to write some thoughts on humanism vs absurdism - it's been my latest philosophical debate and I've bounced some thoughts of the finest minds I know. It's coming.
-Fantastic essay on Fight Club as a misunderstood film. I didn't realize it was panned by critics like that.
-So excited for Dark Knight.
-Lebron's new shoe is ugly.
-I went surfing this weekend. We went for a lesson with some of the interns and it was amazing. I've been twice before (a long long time ago) and each time I've really loved it and wanted to pursue, but never have. I'm going to this time. I'm buying a board, a rash-guard, and a wet-suit. It's happening. And I'm really stoked on it. It's going to happen.
-I've started reading "Confessions of an Economic Hitman." It's a really interesting idea and a really interesting book, but I can tell that I will tire of the writing a little bit. He has led such an interesting life and has a lot to say, but his pointed approach of showing the failings of "corporatocracy" capitalism-capitalism by force, imperialist capitalism, cronie capitalism, whatever the hell you want to call it-tends to err on the side of a blanket critique of capitalism. I'm all for the idea that saddling third world countries with debt, ensuring that all infrastructure upgrades help foreign businesses first, and using any means necessary to serve those interests is wrong. I know that Shell helped arrange the killing of Nigerian protesters. There's no doubt Western capitalism has done a lot of damage globally by using these means. I'm there. But I don't think it is a problem endemic to capitalism as much as it is to imperialism and empire. Perkins fails to make this distinction and his broken record narrative, which fits commentary at every possible opportunity, has already started to wear thin on me. It's fascinating but a bit grating. I don't want to defend capitalism anymore, but in some of my previous posts I've talked a lot about incentives, human nature, and realism in the face of economic challenges. Macroeconomics are not completely fucked, but anything can be used for good or evil.
-I'm well overdue to write some thoughts on humanism vs absurdism - it's been my latest philosophical debate and I've bounced some thoughts of the finest minds I know. It's coming.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Inertia
-Inertia is the enemy of change, whether it be through routine, golden handcuffs, or laziness. It must be fought.
-Fourth of July is an awesome holiday. I thought I'd be unhappy to be in Montana on account of the astronomical flight costs for this holiday, but it's turned out to be pretty great. The Fourth consisted of beer, grilling, croquet, badminton, fireworks, family time, and a great show. We bought some amazing fireworks, including one doozy called "Shock and Awe" that boasted 500 g of gunpowder. That shit went crazy. After the elder family members went to sleep, Eric and I drove into town and saw The Dodos, who are a sick indie band by the way, live in a bar that maybe held 75 people. It was amazing. My first legal drink with my newly anointed 21 year old brother and a great, intimate show in the same evening. The band led a drunken rendition of the national anthem (Happy birthday, America) that involved the whole bar and much more. Overall though, I'm glad to just be in Montana. It's beautiful, it's peaceful, and it's so much different than California. Not necessarily better, but different. Sometimes it takes a change like this to spur an internal one.
-Millers Crossing - Pretty good little gangster flick. I watched it with my brother this evening and although it's not one of the Cohen brothers' finest films, it's very good. I love the gangster spin in a small town and I really enjoyed a lot of the dynamics in this film. Very much a Cohen production, but very worth seeing. It drove me crazy the whole time trying to figure out who Marcia Gay Harden is and what I remembered her from until I was able to IMDB her after the flick. I remember her as the religious nut in "The Mist", the movie with perhaps one of the top 5 darkest endings ever. Which I always respect.
-Fourth of July is an awesome holiday. I thought I'd be unhappy to be in Montana on account of the astronomical flight costs for this holiday, but it's turned out to be pretty great. The Fourth consisted of beer, grilling, croquet, badminton, fireworks, family time, and a great show. We bought some amazing fireworks, including one doozy called "Shock and Awe" that boasted 500 g of gunpowder. That shit went crazy. After the elder family members went to sleep, Eric and I drove into town and saw The Dodos, who are a sick indie band by the way, live in a bar that maybe held 75 people. It was amazing. My first legal drink with my newly anointed 21 year old brother and a great, intimate show in the same evening. The band led a drunken rendition of the national anthem (Happy birthday, America) that involved the whole bar and much more. Overall though, I'm glad to just be in Montana. It's beautiful, it's peaceful, and it's so much different than California. Not necessarily better, but different. Sometimes it takes a change like this to spur an internal one.
-Millers Crossing - Pretty good little gangster flick. I watched it with my brother this evening and although it's not one of the Cohen brothers' finest films, it's very good. I love the gangster spin in a small town and I really enjoyed a lot of the dynamics in this film. Very much a Cohen production, but very worth seeing. It drove me crazy the whole time trying to figure out who Marcia Gay Harden is and what I remembered her from until I was able to IMDB her after the flick. I remember her as the religious nut in "The Mist", the movie with perhaps one of the top 5 darkest endings ever. Which I always respect.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Compelled to write
-I'll be the first to admit that I'm disappointed in my blog output after a strong start, a lot of good writing exercises, and probably more links pages than I really needed to create. I guess airports are my muse then, because yet again I find myself blogging in the Salt Like City airport. Much has changed and life is vibrant, booming, but I feel a bit of stagnation that is now going to be shaking things up to a large degree. This post will be long but will probably border on aphorisms.
-I think that Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" is the definitive artistic statement about 9/11. The more I think about it, the more I listen to it, the more I think it to be true. Although I'm certainly not qualified to make any kind of final decision in this arena clearly, I'd like to elaborate my thoughts. Listening to it in the airport, watching the people, I think that "The Rising" perfectly captures a post-9/11 America. Its pride is wounded and America somehow feels different, hollow. People are incapable of pretending it never happened and struggling to grasp the magnitude and the ramifications of such a history-changing event. Even in the most normal of everyday interactions, something has changed. It feels a bit like innocence lost when one is struck so catastrophically on their own soil. Illusions are quickly shattered. Although there are some good works on this, they don't capture the full spectrum of the effect on the American life. Bruce's album goes through the pain of the event, the sudden void in the New York skyline, and faces the challenges of trying to heal through such adversity. What it's like to get up the next day, to throw a party, to be happy and joyous again, etc. He tackles what its like to return to normal life again, something that I feel has scarcely been addressed.
However, there's one emotional note that is glaringly absent: anger. Nowhere does Bruce use this momentous occasion for a political soapbox, nowhere does he say it's time to "kick Osama bin Laden's ass", nowhere does he talk about the inevitable invasions. His album is one of healing and of the human cost, not the political ones. I like that, a lot. "Reign O'er Me," a decent, flawed movie with a great heart that resorts to melodrama and extreme post-traumatic stress syndrome in one man to show the effect of 9/11 in the families of those who died in the towers. The movie never really clicked with me, not at all despite having Don Cheadle who is consistently excellent. Although I haven't seen "World Trade Center", I have seen "United 93", which focused entirely on the facts of the attackers, the defense network, and those aboard United 93, which crashed to the ground in Pennsylvania. "United 93" was a movie with no frills, no elaborate soundtrack, and no special effects. It was humanity at its finest and its worst. It struggled to explain why people who had never met each other were willing to die and kill many around them for something as intangible as a difference in ideas. It perfectly portrayed the senselessness of the violence, both of the hijackers and the men who stood up to them and crashed the aircraft to save others. The last thirty minutes of that movie made me sob my eyes out as I watched the senseless violence, people make their last calls to their family ("Honey I need you to know the code to the safe. This is where our will is...", teary-eyed "I love you's", and so much more.) I've never lost it in a movie like that. But its an incomplete picture of the event and it stops with the crash.
-"The Hulk" - 2008 version with Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt - Huge disappointment. The word for this movie was stiff. It was so far the antithesis of its predecessor that it made overdeveloped relationships into trite and insincere ones. William Hurt was wildly underutilized, as was the rest of this talented cast. It was an action movie that Marvel lacked confidence in so it blew its load in the trailers by showing the Iron Man bit at the end, all of the good fight scenes (essentially all of them period) in the trailers, and featured a character that no one really believes worked that much better than the previous incarnation. However, it was safe to a t and marvel really didn't want a mega-failure, so it made a mediocre movie with an all-star cast. Still, that irked me.
-I'm staffed in Nashville for the foreseeable future. I'm really torn on this. There are a number of pros. I'm getting a lot of great PD, insane amounts of client contact, and a completely new case experience out of this. In addition, there's a great team of people I genuinely like, I'm going to rack up frequent flyer points and Starwood points like nobody's business. But, that said, I'm trading the Southern California sun for Southern humidity. The greatest summer in the states for Tennessee. I mean I know it won't be all bad and I'll be in California Thursday-Sunday, but man that's a lot of traveling to be doing. Not so stoked on that.
-In general, existentially, things are going really well. I'm hitting my stride nicely (it helps to not have worked much the last month or so - hooray for beach time) in a number of ways. I'm using the trip to Montana to get back into reading (I'm going to have read a book a month by the end of the year, or else. Next year, let's double it). I'm also going to the gym much more regularly and starting to cutting down on the shit I eat. Nashville won't be THAT conducive and I'll be working hard, but that's a great test. Will I have the resolve to do mini work-outs and control what I eat? Let's see. But in general it's for me to behave more like the man I want to be and less like a college student. I need to develop a healthy routine and do it now. Otherwise I'll end up stubborn and immobile like my Grandfather. I'm really fearing seeing him tomorrow morning as a shadow of his former self. As far as my shit, I'm working on it. I'm going to hit my New Years Resolutions (1 down already: good first performance review-perhaps the most important) even if it means only really working towards most of them in the second half of the year.
-Sacrilege abounds, but I'm thinking of getting cheap Clippers season tickets to watch Baron next year.
-I can just as easily see the Lakers becoming the Buffalo Bills the next few years by being perennially close without winning as I can see them becoming a dynasty. I really really hope they don't mess up their core and win it all next year. I think we're poised to. It all really hinges on the knees of one man-child: Andrew Bynum. I said I'd do a season wrap-up, but man I don't want to.
-...does it make sense to get Clippers season tickets when, honestly, I already have UCLA football and basketball tickets. Do I have time for that with work? Leaning towards no.
-On my flight to Montana tonight, I almost relived the horror that was my last trip. They canceled a shitload of flights to Salt Lake (mine survived) and then they oversold the flight to Bozeman and were calling people randomly to cut them out. Insane! I had flashbacks to my last disaster but I was lucky enough to avoid the random cut. They were sending people to Billings (2+ hours away) but at 930 TOMORROW night. I would have said fuck that, you send me back to LA tomorrow morning, reimburse me for my flights and give me a voucher. I don't want to lose 36 hours of a 72 hour trip again.
-I really want to see this Gonzo movie, badly. I'm going if I have to go myself. Love me the good Doctor.
-My dad always told me, "There's friends and there's money." It's always uncomfortable to mix the two when there's that added relationship.
-Still not sold on anyone in this election. Obama is trying to lose my vote it seems and McCain isn't doing much to win it. I may not vote.
-NBA free agency has been CRAZY. Seriously.
-One of the most upsetting tidbits about traveling for work was the toll it'd take on my GTA IV progress.
-I wonder...
-I seriously hope that people stop buying Budweiser. I hate all their beers and what they did to Rolling Rock anyway. It'd be great revenge.
-The next "X" years of your life always looking frightening and crazy in tunnel vision. Every time I'm faced with the prospect of years into the future, it freaks me out. Thinking about all the change necessary. But change is incremental and natural and one needs to embrace it. Seriously though, who wants to embrace age? It's a fundamentally scary prospect.
-I think that Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" is the definitive artistic statement about 9/11. The more I think about it, the more I listen to it, the more I think it to be true. Although I'm certainly not qualified to make any kind of final decision in this arena clearly, I'd like to elaborate my thoughts. Listening to it in the airport, watching the people, I think that "The Rising" perfectly captures a post-9/11 America. Its pride is wounded and America somehow feels different, hollow. People are incapable of pretending it never happened and struggling to grasp the magnitude and the ramifications of such a history-changing event. Even in the most normal of everyday interactions, something has changed. It feels a bit like innocence lost when one is struck so catastrophically on their own soil. Illusions are quickly shattered. Although there are some good works on this, they don't capture the full spectrum of the effect on the American life. Bruce's album goes through the pain of the event, the sudden void in the New York skyline, and faces the challenges of trying to heal through such adversity. What it's like to get up the next day, to throw a party, to be happy and joyous again, etc. He tackles what its like to return to normal life again, something that I feel has scarcely been addressed.
However, there's one emotional note that is glaringly absent: anger. Nowhere does Bruce use this momentous occasion for a political soapbox, nowhere does he say it's time to "kick Osama bin Laden's ass", nowhere does he talk about the inevitable invasions. His album is one of healing and of the human cost, not the political ones. I like that, a lot. "Reign O'er Me," a decent, flawed movie with a great heart that resorts to melodrama and extreme post-traumatic stress syndrome in one man to show the effect of 9/11 in the families of those who died in the towers. The movie never really clicked with me, not at all despite having Don Cheadle who is consistently excellent. Although I haven't seen "World Trade Center", I have seen "United 93", which focused entirely on the facts of the attackers, the defense network, and those aboard United 93, which crashed to the ground in Pennsylvania. "United 93" was a movie with no frills, no elaborate soundtrack, and no special effects. It was humanity at its finest and its worst. It struggled to explain why people who had never met each other were willing to die and kill many around them for something as intangible as a difference in ideas. It perfectly portrayed the senselessness of the violence, both of the hijackers and the men who stood up to them and crashed the aircraft to save others. The last thirty minutes of that movie made me sob my eyes out as I watched the senseless violence, people make their last calls to their family ("Honey I need you to know the code to the safe. This is where our will is...", teary-eyed "I love you's", and so much more.) I've never lost it in a movie like that. But its an incomplete picture of the event and it stops with the crash.
-"The Hulk" - 2008 version with Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt - Huge disappointment. The word for this movie was stiff. It was so far the antithesis of its predecessor that it made overdeveloped relationships into trite and insincere ones. William Hurt was wildly underutilized, as was the rest of this talented cast. It was an action movie that Marvel lacked confidence in so it blew its load in the trailers by showing the Iron Man bit at the end, all of the good fight scenes (essentially all of them period) in the trailers, and featured a character that no one really believes worked that much better than the previous incarnation. However, it was safe to a t and marvel really didn't want a mega-failure, so it made a mediocre movie with an all-star cast. Still, that irked me.
-I'm staffed in Nashville for the foreseeable future. I'm really torn on this. There are a number of pros. I'm getting a lot of great PD, insane amounts of client contact, and a completely new case experience out of this. In addition, there's a great team of people I genuinely like, I'm going to rack up frequent flyer points and Starwood points like nobody's business. But, that said, I'm trading the Southern California sun for Southern humidity. The greatest summer in the states for Tennessee. I mean I know it won't be all bad and I'll be in California Thursday-Sunday, but man that's a lot of traveling to be doing. Not so stoked on that.
-In general, existentially, things are going really well. I'm hitting my stride nicely (it helps to not have worked much the last month or so - hooray for beach time) in a number of ways. I'm using the trip to Montana to get back into reading (I'm going to have read a book a month by the end of the year, or else. Next year, let's double it). I'm also going to the gym much more regularly and starting to cutting down on the shit I eat. Nashville won't be THAT conducive and I'll be working hard, but that's a great test. Will I have the resolve to do mini work-outs and control what I eat? Let's see. But in general it's for me to behave more like the man I want to be and less like a college student. I need to develop a healthy routine and do it now. Otherwise I'll end up stubborn and immobile like my Grandfather. I'm really fearing seeing him tomorrow morning as a shadow of his former self. As far as my shit, I'm working on it. I'm going to hit my New Years Resolutions (1 down already: good first performance review-perhaps the most important) even if it means only really working towards most of them in the second half of the year.
-Sacrilege abounds, but I'm thinking of getting cheap Clippers season tickets to watch Baron next year.
-I can just as easily see the Lakers becoming the Buffalo Bills the next few years by being perennially close without winning as I can see them becoming a dynasty. I really really hope they don't mess up their core and win it all next year. I think we're poised to. It all really hinges on the knees of one man-child: Andrew Bynum. I said I'd do a season wrap-up, but man I don't want to.
-...does it make sense to get Clippers season tickets when, honestly, I already have UCLA football and basketball tickets. Do I have time for that with work? Leaning towards no.
-On my flight to Montana tonight, I almost relived the horror that was my last trip. They canceled a shitload of flights to Salt Lake (mine survived) and then they oversold the flight to Bozeman and were calling people randomly to cut them out. Insane! I had flashbacks to my last disaster but I was lucky enough to avoid the random cut. They were sending people to Billings (2+ hours away) but at 930 TOMORROW night. I would have said fuck that, you send me back to LA tomorrow morning, reimburse me for my flights and give me a voucher. I don't want to lose 36 hours of a 72 hour trip again.
-I really want to see this Gonzo movie, badly. I'm going if I have to go myself. Love me the good Doctor.
-My dad always told me, "There's friends and there's money." It's always uncomfortable to mix the two when there's that added relationship.
-Still not sold on anyone in this election. Obama is trying to lose my vote it seems and McCain isn't doing much to win it. I may not vote.
-NBA free agency has been CRAZY. Seriously.
-One of the most upsetting tidbits about traveling for work was the toll it'd take on my GTA IV progress.
-I wonder...
-I seriously hope that people stop buying Budweiser. I hate all their beers and what they did to Rolling Rock anyway. It'd be great revenge.
-The next "X" years of your life always looking frightening and crazy in tunnel vision. Every time I'm faced with the prospect of years into the future, it freaks me out. Thinking about all the change necessary. But change is incremental and natural and one needs to embrace it. Seriously though, who wants to embrace age? It's a fundamentally scary prospect.
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