Aimless
Man it's been a while. Happy New Year, by the way. I've been sort of sitting on this thing for a few weeks now, not much to say, not much to talk about. Went home for the holidays, and it was nice seeing everyone, but I got back and sat down more than once to try to write something here and just sort of lost interest a sentence or two in.
I think the problem was that I didn't really feel like I had much to talk about. Fiscal cliff? Same old, same old. Congress is still getting paid while screwing around with our lives. Nah, it's been pretty baren... until now. Thank you Ceci, for bringing this to my attention, and thank you President Obama (and Vice President Biden) for once again providing me with something to talk about.
Mind Control
Sandy Hook. What a tragedy. I'm not going to harp on it, I'm sure you've heard enough. But I am going to do exactly what the US government did, and use Sandy Hook as a jumping-off point to talk about gun control. President Obama spoke soon after the shooting, and while I think it was definitely a genuine speech and the right thing to do, I was disappointed to see him turn something like this into a political issue on gun control. It didn't take long for conspiracy theories to surface, like another 9/11 except this time involving a bunch of completely innocent kids. I'm not going to say that this was a conspiracy, just like I'm not going to say that 9/11 was a conspiracy. What I will say is that if either of these were conspiracies, then we should all be ashamed of ourselves.
Now to the real matter: gun control. Let me preface this by making perfectly clear my stance on guns. I do not like guns. They scare me. Anything that, in an instant, can kill another person, is in my opinion a danger that is not necessary. BUT... I DO respect the rights of Americans to have guns as stated in the Constitution. We as a country have the right to bear arms, and we should. If you remove the guns from our hands, then only the people who break the law will have them. I do believe that allowing Americans to arm themselves serves as a deterrent for at least some of the people who would love to watch the world burn. But I also believe that in many cases the "right to bear arms" is being abused. There's a big difference between owning a shotgun or pistol to defend your home or person, and owning a semi-automatic assault rifle that was built for the purpose of killing massive amounts of people. I've known too many people who collect guns as some sort of obsession... it's almost more of a fetish than a realistic reason. Like having an S&M room in your house, only this is more deadly.
So Obama decided to have Biden head up the committee on exploring the options with gun control. I think this was a smart political decision on his part. Biden is enough of an idiot and a bigmouth that he can say stupid stuff and piss people off, and most of us will attribute it to him being dumb instead of him being a mouthpiece for Obama. Biden is an excellent patsey, and it's a testament to Obama's intelligence that he played it this way. Ultimately, gun control is something that this administration has wanted to tackle for some time, and you almost can't blame Obama for using this as an opening to start the debate. Obama is good at taking advantage of these opportunities... Sandy Hook is going to be for gun control what Ted Kennedy's death was for healthcare. They tried it when Gabby Giffords was shot, but it didn't work. But I guarantee you kids being killed will get more eyebrows raised and more conversations started. It's terrible, but it's politics.
Here's where the problem lies: Obama is apparently exploring the use of Executive Orders in order to help with the gun control issue. First of all, the whole idea of "executive orders" is bullshit. The POINT of our government is that there is NO executive order. No one person can issue anything as the final word. EVERYTHING goes through checks, balances, and smart (ha) people who can filter the decision and make sure that it's valid. Executive orders have been abused by several presidents, and the whole concept should be eradicated immediately. Otherwise we're not much of a "democracy," are we?
Really though, the actual enemy here isn't Obama or Biden or any politician. Politicans are there to bring up conversations like this, to propose solutions for us all to debate and argue about. No, the real enemy here is media. And I'm not talking about local news (probably the least biased of all media). I'm talking about big media, the CNNs, the Fox Newses, the "Daily Shows," the opinionated, biased pundits who pass themselves off as "journalists." To be clear I am not insinuating that Jon Stewart considers himself a journalist, but the sad reality is that people are so stupid that they consider him to be one.
Take the one big mouthpiece on this whole gun control situation: Piers Morgan. You might recall that this guy once judged people on their singing ability. That's what he's done with his life. And yet now he is in control of one of the most powerful news organizations in the world for one hour each night. This barely-significant person now has the ears of hundreds of thousands of easily-influenced Americans ("sheeple," I believe they're called)... and now he's telling him what to think about gun control. He has called in the kookiest, craziest pro-gun people around and blindsided them with pre-planned arguments that they aren't prepared for, all in an attempt to make them look crazy and kooky (and make him look like the man in control), and for what? To satisfy his own personal opinions? To satisfy those of people who pay him, or support him? Whatever the case may be, this is way too much power for one person to have. And yet, it's happening everywhere.
So people like him are the enemy, but we are the problem. We are the people who listen to this drivel. We give them our eyes and ears, we give them ratings (and therefore money) to continue this sham, this "journalism." In our endless search to be entertained, we bypass one of the only outlets of journalism that is at least somewhat neutral (local news) and instead choose to get our information from entertainers. Seriously, if you think Piers Morgan (or for that matter, Jon Stewart) are journalists, go jump off a cliff and never speak to me again. You are worthless.
In the end, I don't care who you watch or where you get your information from. What I would ask you all to do is form your own damn opinions. Stop letting others do your thinking for you. Do some damn research, learn something for a change, and then formulate your own theories and opinions. In short, THINK. Now here is MY solution to the problem -- not for you to regurgitate like you're some sort of export, but just so you can see that I do my own thinking and I am at least smart enough to know better than to consider vomit from the mouth of a reality TV show judge to be the end-all-be-all truth.
If you want to control guns, control ammunition. Regulate ammunition like you regulate cigarettes. Tax the everliving shit out of it. Make everyone have an extensive background check before purchasing guns OR ammunition. Add a nationwide waiting period on all weapon AND ammunition purchases (so if you buy the gun or ammo today, you have to wait three days before you receive either). Ultimately, people who want to have guns are going to get them. And people who want to do bad things with those guns are going to do bad things. It's inevitable, and I for one would rather put guns into the good people's hands as well, so that at least we have SOME sensibility out there.
Now to the real matter: gun control. Let me preface this by making perfectly clear my stance on guns. I do not like guns. They scare me. Anything that, in an instant, can kill another person, is in my opinion a danger that is not necessary. BUT... I DO respect the rights of Americans to have guns as stated in the Constitution. We as a country have the right to bear arms, and we should. If you remove the guns from our hands, then only the people who break the law will have them. I do believe that allowing Americans to arm themselves serves as a deterrent for at least some of the people who would love to watch the world burn. But I also believe that in many cases the "right to bear arms" is being abused. There's a big difference between owning a shotgun or pistol to defend your home or person, and owning a semi-automatic assault rifle that was built for the purpose of killing massive amounts of people. I've known too many people who collect guns as some sort of obsession... it's almost more of a fetish than a realistic reason. Like having an S&M room in your house, only this is more deadly.
So Obama decided to have Biden head up the committee on exploring the options with gun control. I think this was a smart political decision on his part. Biden is enough of an idiot and a bigmouth that he can say stupid stuff and piss people off, and most of us will attribute it to him being dumb instead of him being a mouthpiece for Obama. Biden is an excellent patsey, and it's a testament to Obama's intelligence that he played it this way. Ultimately, gun control is something that this administration has wanted to tackle for some time, and you almost can't blame Obama for using this as an opening to start the debate. Obama is good at taking advantage of these opportunities... Sandy Hook is going to be for gun control what Ted Kennedy's death was for healthcare. They tried it when Gabby Giffords was shot, but it didn't work. But I guarantee you kids being killed will get more eyebrows raised and more conversations started. It's terrible, but it's politics.
Here's where the problem lies: Obama is apparently exploring the use of Executive Orders in order to help with the gun control issue. First of all, the whole idea of "executive orders" is bullshit. The POINT of our government is that there is NO executive order. No one person can issue anything as the final word. EVERYTHING goes through checks, balances, and smart (ha) people who can filter the decision and make sure that it's valid. Executive orders have been abused by several presidents, and the whole concept should be eradicated immediately. Otherwise we're not much of a "democracy," are we?
Really though, the actual enemy here isn't Obama or Biden or any politician. Politicans are there to bring up conversations like this, to propose solutions for us all to debate and argue about. No, the real enemy here is media. And I'm not talking about local news (probably the least biased of all media). I'm talking about big media, the CNNs, the Fox Newses, the "Daily Shows," the opinionated, biased pundits who pass themselves off as "journalists." To be clear I am not insinuating that Jon Stewart considers himself a journalist, but the sad reality is that people are so stupid that they consider him to be one.
Take the one big mouthpiece on this whole gun control situation: Piers Morgan. You might recall that this guy once judged people on their singing ability. That's what he's done with his life. And yet now he is in control of one of the most powerful news organizations in the world for one hour each night. This barely-significant person now has the ears of hundreds of thousands of easily-influenced Americans ("sheeple," I believe they're called)... and now he's telling him what to think about gun control. He has called in the kookiest, craziest pro-gun people around and blindsided them with pre-planned arguments that they aren't prepared for, all in an attempt to make them look crazy and kooky (and make him look like the man in control), and for what? To satisfy his own personal opinions? To satisfy those of people who pay him, or support him? Whatever the case may be, this is way too much power for one person to have. And yet, it's happening everywhere.
So people like him are the enemy, but we are the problem. We are the people who listen to this drivel. We give them our eyes and ears, we give them ratings (and therefore money) to continue this sham, this "journalism." In our endless search to be entertained, we bypass one of the only outlets of journalism that is at least somewhat neutral (local news) and instead choose to get our information from entertainers. Seriously, if you think Piers Morgan (or for that matter, Jon Stewart) are journalists, go jump off a cliff and never speak to me again. You are worthless.
In the end, I don't care who you watch or where you get your information from. What I would ask you all to do is form your own damn opinions. Stop letting others do your thinking for you. Do some damn research, learn something for a change, and then formulate your own theories and opinions. In short, THINK. Now here is MY solution to the problem -- not for you to regurgitate like you're some sort of export, but just so you can see that I do my own thinking and I am at least smart enough to know better than to consider vomit from the mouth of a reality TV show judge to be the end-all-be-all truth.
If you want to control guns, control ammunition. Regulate ammunition like you regulate cigarettes. Tax the everliving shit out of it. Make everyone have an extensive background check before purchasing guns OR ammunition. Add a nationwide waiting period on all weapon AND ammunition purchases (so if you buy the gun or ammo today, you have to wait three days before you receive either). Ultimately, people who want to have guns are going to get them. And people who want to do bad things with those guns are going to do bad things. It's inevitable, and I for one would rather put guns into the good people's hands as well, so that at least we have SOME sensibility out there.
Ted
From Netflix: John Bennett's constant companion, Ted -- a hard-partying, foul-mouthed teddy bear who came to life when John was a kid -- threatens to derail his belated attempts to enter adulthood and marry his girlfriend.
My take: I had high hopes and concerns about this movie from the get-go. The whole Seth McFarlane machine is sort of a mystery to me. Is it really him that makes everything so funny, or is it the people around him? What happened to "Family Guy?" Did he take on too many shows and have to spread his funny too thin? How is it that every now and then Family Guy still hits gold? Would this movie starring Mark Walbergh (who can actually be funny) and a computer-animated teddy bear actually be funny?
Thankfully, the answer is yes. "Ted" was dirty, it was uncomfortable, but it was hilarious. In a lot of ways, it's refreshing to see that someone like Seth McFarlane can still find an avenue for comedy. I feel like Hollywood humor has sort of gotten lazy, like it's the same story over and over again (I'm looking at you, "Hangover 2"). So here comes an original idea, and it's just nice to see it find some success.
If you're an adult, see "Ted." If you're not, or if you have kids, spare them. It's almost like McFarlane is challenging our intelligence with this movie. He's trying to figure out how many bad parents are out there who will say "oh it has a teddy bear, let's show it to the kids!" That McFarlane... he's a smart dude.
THX 1138
From Netflix: In a dystopian future that mandates drug use and outlaws sex, THX 1138 (Robert Duvall) and LUH 3417 (Maggie McOmie) rebel against the status quo. But when LUH winds up pregnant and THX is jailed, only a fellow prisoner (Donald Pleasence) can help THX escape. George Lucas based this futuristic love story -- his first feature film -- on an award-winning short he lensed while he was still in college.
My Take: So this is the movie that made George Lucas' career, huh? This is what inspired him and helped him make Star Wars? This is one of those movies I've wanted to see for a long time, but not so much to see the movie itself as to hopefully understand its director. See, I've always sort of lumped Lucas and Spielberg together as two of Hollywood's greats. But while Spielberg has kept up the quality and impressiveness of his work, Lucas seems to have completely fallen apart. Why? Did Lucas lose his inspiration, or has he always sucked and just got lucky with the movies he made that did well?
Unfortunately, "THX" didn't really answer much for me. I guess I shouldn't have expected it to. It's low budget, it's basic, it's boring. Though well acted, the plot just doesn't move anywhere. It drags, and drags, and drags. It's full of holes (where the hell did the hologram come from? Who are these people? What the hell is this world they live in?) It's like a piece of a movie that Lucas figured out how to stretch into two hours. Granted, you have to give some of this to the fact that he had a relatively small budget to work with. But there have been plenty of low-budget movies that really showcase the talent of a director, actor, producer, etc. This is not one of them.
I have to attribute Lucas' success to being in the right place at the right time. I think if he were to come up in today's film world, he would probably be nothing. And that would suck, because "Star Wars" (the old ones) are still some of my favorite movies. So lucky you, George, and lucky us for getting the good stuff out of you while the getting was good. "THX" is not worth watching, unless like me you're just curious. Oh well George Lucas, you'll always have ILM!
John Carter
From Netflix: One minute, Civil War veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) is evading Apaches in a deserted cave. The next, he's waking up on Mars, a once-Earthlike planet that's devolved into chaos -- and civil war of a different sort. Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs's classic "Barsoom Series," this sci-fi adventure finds Carter coming to the aid of Martian princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) and pitching in to help protect the planet.
My Take: I'd heard this movie was pretty terrible. But I have to admit, my curiosity got the best of me. First of all, how could a movie about Mars be THAT bad? I mean "Total Recall" was originally about Mars and it was friggin' sweet. Taylor Kitsch isn't a good actor by any stretch, but he's not bad either. The story seemed kind of interesting. I like the director. How bad could it be?
Bad. Real bad. And you know what? I don't blame the actors at all. This was a group of good actors trying to make the most out of a shitty script. This might be one of the worst-written movies I've ever seen... and I'm including "Transformers" in that comparison. It's insulting how many things are left out of this script. We're supposed to just understand what's going on, who is who, what is what, and it's not done for effect... it's more like laziness, like the writer was like "meh, I'm not going to bother explaining any of this shit, fuck all the viewers I just want my paycheck."
This movie deserved the terrible reviews it got. I hope it doesn't hurt the careers of the actors though... seriously, no one did a BAD job of acting. The directing was okay too. But the scriptwriter, or whoever edited that script, or whoever decided what cuts needed to be taken out of the movie, or whatever... SOMEONE needs to be punched right in the stomach for allowing this movie to make it out. Don't watch it. It's not even good-bad. It's just bad-bad. Not worth your time.
I'm going to leave you with this. These are "meggings." Leggings. For men. This is America. And you know what? I have less of a problem with the meggings themselves than I do with the bigger problem. We as Americans are so intent to allow this sort of stuff that we are making fools out of ourselves in the process. We live in a country where what was once considered "normal" is now considered "boring" or even "embarrassing." If a straight guy goes to a strip club or looks at pornography, he's a pig. If a gay guy wants to wear tights that reveal his junk, he's "expressing himself." I've said this a thousand times before, and I will continue to say it. I'm all for freedom of expression and letting people do their own thing, but let's allow EVERYONE to fall into that category. If you don't want to pray in school, don't. But don't make fun of or ostracize people who still do. If you want to have sex with people of the same gender, fine. But don't assault those of us who still prefer the opposite gender and try to make us feel guilty for doing so. I'm 100% for ALLOWING equality, but I am totally against FORCING equality. There's a big difference, and it's happening everywhere.
I'm going to go lay down...
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