Quote Of My Day

"You can't control other people's actions/feelings, but you can control your own, so get the fuck over yourself" ~ unknown. and I threw in a fuck and changed it from "it" to "yourself". I like to curse and I like to give myself reality checks every now and then.

Too much work for a Friday. Too much work for my own good. Good weekend to all and to all a Good Weekend.

If you remember this short-lived Growing Pains spinoff that aired almost all day on USA for the following years in syndication, you get a brownie. God bless those "Lubbock Babes" when you're a 12 year-old boy (they're last name was Lubbock and it was the name of their quartet pop singing group... I'm not misogynistic)

Selfish People

I'm convinced that 99% of our population has narcissistic personality disorder. Definition, Wikipedia, I know I know, but Wikipedia kinda rocks the shit now: a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy. The narcissist is described as turning inward for gratification rather than depending on others and as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige. Narcissistic personality disorder is closely linked to self-centeredness."

If you don't believe me that so much of our population is riddled with this disease, just go on Facebook. I've never actually done this, but would be interested to see someone who dared to try. I just see so much narcissism on Facebook, it supports my claim ten fold. You should try it. The next time you see someone reaching out, feeling so bad about themselves that they feel the need to share it with their world of friends/co-workers/ex-schoolmates/adquaintances, whether it's in an update or just hating how they look in pics and fishing for compliments. Pick up the phone and call that person. Tell them you knew they were sad and wanted to know if they want to talk. Listen to them bitch, they will really appreciate you care enough to pick up the phone and call them, trust me. Then, contact them when you have an issue, even if it's made up, just do it, see if they care, do they listen to you? probably not. They'll more than likely just wait until it's their turn to talk, cut you off a few times in the process and then give some story about how their baby is waking up from a nap, they need to do some work or that they're "hubby" will be home soon from work and they need to finish dinner. "Hubby". Who knew that people still referred to their husband as hubby until Facebook came along? And if they do comment on your situation direct, they'll find a way to tie it into their situation after you're done speaking. These people should not procreate.

I have NO IDEA how this ties into what I just wrote. But I just stumbled upon this and can't believe I forgot about this cheesy ass sitcom. "Be Good To Yourself... and Each Other" ~ Jerry Springer.

Stress and the Economy

So what's the deal yahoo?  One day after our day off because we all work so hard, you decide to remind me that shit's about to go down?  Just like the youngsters head back to school, after Labor Day our country decides it's time to put us back to work after having the summer to relax, go to the beach, sip iced tea and snooze in hammocks.  Now it's time to buckle down and accomplish.  I guess.   Here are the two top links that appear when you go onto the yahoo home page.  My opinion, the largest ranging "news" source in America.

1. http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-stressful-cities-2009.html.  Stress.  Are you stressed? Are your bills too high and your job sucks?  Ever feel like jumping off a building or driving head first into traffic.  Don't fret, you don't live in the most stressful city in America according to this article.  What's that? You're still stressed? Well fuck you because I do live in the most stressful city in America so I don't want to hear yous bitchin'.  The factors for making Chicago stressful are crowding, poor air quality, a high unemployment rate and free-falling home values.  Luckily for me, I like being able to disappear into a sea of people, I smoke cigarettes, I have a job and don't own a home yet because I'm too much of a gypsy drifter.  So, I guess I can't get mad at you for bitching if you want to.  Feel free to vent.  I do possess the trait of empathy so pass the tissues, we all got issues.

2. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090908/bs_nm/us_competitiveness_report.  What's up America? Losing a competitive competition with the Swiss?!?! Your economy used to be competitive as shit, what's happening? Losing your game USA?  We've always been the most competitive nation in the world according to this competitiveness (is that even a word?) report.  So what's the deal?  Turning soft?  You'll never make it into the NFL with that attitude.  I feel this article is offered to us to inspire us to get those competitive juices flowing; That race to get promoted between you and what's his face; That rush to the other security lane at the airport cutting off at least 10 people while doing so but who gives a fuck because I got places to go mother fucker!;  That massive brawl at Walmart between hoards of baby boomers at the crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving to get little Johnny that video game that he wants so badly, and if he gets it, he'll be the coolest kid in class and you will be a good parent.  Come on America!  Quit being a bunch of fucking pussies!  Get competitive!  

I hate yahoo news.   This is fitting and I do like Dolly.  4 Day work week this week. Holla.

Movie Review: 500 Days of Bummer

Okay, this movie wasn't that bad, but who could resist such a quirky title for a movie review?  Perhaps it was the buildup, the anticipation, the being told by more than one movie-opinion-trusted friend how '500 Days of Summer' was the best movie of the year; the "When Harry Met Sally of our generation".  Who would not be disappointed when the movie that was pitched in the trailer as an anti-fairy-tale romantic comedy still turned out to be a fairy-tale romantic comedy?  A cleverly masked one to reel in the gents, but still a typical boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy and girl live happily ever after.  It's just done differently.

I am making this a point to write a movie review for the flicks I see because the new site will be launched soon and there will be an entire section devoted to "Movie Reviews".  This is my first attempt... and it's taken me awhile strangely.  Just in case anyone is interested on my take.  I will do my best not to spoil anything major about the plot, therefore if I mention something in depth about the movie, it means the information was either already revealed in the trailer or the information will not ruin your experience of a movie unfolding before your eyes.  That being said, if you're like me, you avoid reviews until after you see the movie.  If that's you too, please feel free to comment on your take, even if you strongly disagree with my assessment, I want to understand why or why not particular movies resinate with some people and not with others.

Quote of the Movie: Narrator: "There are two different types of people in this world: men and women."

First off, while I didn't walk out of this movie with the "OMG, like I'm gonna go Twitter everyone to see this movie" type attitude (I don't tweet by the way, that was a joke), I want to acknowledge that the strong direction of Marc Webb handling Scott Neusdadter & Michael H. Weber's script was both imaginative and original.  Set in Los Angeles, we are immediately introduced to two characters, Tom and Summer, by a narrator who stays with us the entire movie as an omniscient observer.  Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) grew up with the belief that he would never truly be happy until he meets "the one".  Although his parents consistently fought in front of him, they stayed married throughout his "happy" New Jersey suburban upbringing.  Summer (adorably & aggrivatingly played by Zooey Deschenel in her best performance yet) grew up in the suburbs of Michigan.   Having a hard time dealing with the divorce of her parents at age 10, Summer  never quite bought into the unrealistic Disney-esque fairy-tale expectations of "the one".  Summer developed an obsession with cutting off chunks of her hair after realizing that it didn't hurt her and that the hair will eventually and always grow back.  She grew up being spoiled by both parents, being showered with love, gifts and money on both sides.  She grew up pretty, a cheerleader, popular, the kind of woman who has always gotten things for cheap or nothing at all because people just naturally want to help her.  This is all displayed to us from a narrator before the credits ever roll, and when they do, we're greeted with a clever creative montage after being told flat out : This is not a love story.  These two people do not wind up together.

When Summer starts a job as an administrative assistant at the greetings card company that Tom writes for, Tom instantly falls in love the second they meet.  Summer doesn't believe in love at first sight and due to a few mutual traits they share and the "idea of Summer", Tom falls in head over heels.  Due to an infatuation with how Tom sees love, and skillfully revealing that Summer deep down wants to feel that too, she enters the relationship and the two are a happy domestic couple for the next few months.  Then Summer gets bored and that's how the dissolution of their relationship plays out over the following days, months, and almost two years.  The director plays with time so we are constantly switching days as we switch scenes so we really get to see every stage of a breakup, this time seen more through the emotional rollercoaster that is Tom.  This is where it's different from other romantic comedies, it's seen from a guy's perspective.

We see funny and entertaining interactions between Tom and his two best friends, Paul (Matthew Grey-Gubner) who has been in the same relationship with the same woman since high school and Paul (Geoffrey Arend) who has never been in a relationship in his life.  The two offer the best advice to help their friend out, but it's essentially Tom's adolescent sister Rachel (Chloe Moretz), she is my favorite character in the film, who is the only person to get through to Tom as he breaks down as Summer slowly pulls away from him.

The only thing I didn't like about this movie was Tom's character and Gordon-Levitt's acting. While obviously written as a semi- autobiography by the writers, I believe Levitt's portrayal goes too over the line of pathetic-ness, so over that line that you start to lose respect for his character.  I think he did the best he could do with that role, however it made this 90-minute movie seem way too long for me.  I also was disappointed with the ending.  I will not spoil that because well, it's the ending and that's kind of the reason you see a movie; to find out what happens. However for me, the ending turned this anti-fairy tale romantic comedy into just a regular romantic comedy.  It didn't really teach me anything, it merely just pointed out how happy, sad, romantic, angry, grief-stricken, depressing emotionally draining and rejuvinating a failed relationship can be.  Unfortunately, the dissection of failed relationships is a very relatable theme for people.  While I don't quite agree with their take on the mystery of love, partly because I have nothing but failed relationships to compare this movie to, I am however excited to see what Webb, Neustadter, Weber and especially Deschenel do next.  I've liked her since Elf.

Best Song on the Soundtrack: Regina Spektor "Us".

Please check out other Regina Spektor songs if you like, she's got skills.