Away For The Weekend

I am going to Hobbs, NM this weekend with my parents to see my Grandmother and the Book Ferrit on the side. I will probably be back late on Sunday.

Scruff McSocialist?

Oh man. I just glanced over at my freshly arriven copy of ISR (International Socialist Review) and what did I happen to read? OK, well to start out, I need everybody to seek deep into their mind and remember the theme song for the Scruff McGruff commercials that were played all the time about 7 years ago or so. Remember? "Help Take A Bite Out Of Crime". Then the theme song went: "Scruff-Mc Gruff--Chicago Illinois--Six O Six-Five Two". That is where you write a letter to have them send you some pamphlet or something. Anyways, keep that in mind: Chicago IL, 60652. Anyways, I looked over at my magazine and what was the address it was from? It was Chicago IL, 60625! The only difference was that the last two numbers were switched! I just thought that was weird.
Another weird number thing I noticed was that if you were to call 1-800-LIPS, it would be the same number as calling 1-800-KISS. Try that next time you are dialing 976 Barnyard Animal numbers.

Movie Review: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

Origionally, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls was intended to be a sequel to the 1967 movie Valley of the Dolls. Valley of the Dolls was a book, then turned into a movie. I don't know much about it because I havn't seen/read it. Eventually, the writer/director decided to make it it's own original movie (even though the themes of the two movies are almost exactrly the same), so now there is a disclaimer at the beggining that states that it had nothing to do with Valley of the Dolls.
When Beyond the Valley of the Dolls first came out it was actually rated X. This must be do to the fact that you see just about everybody's boobs in the whole movie. It wasn't until 1990 that it was re-reviewed and given the NC-17 rating. The plot is about a all-girl rock band that explores the ups and downs of show business. One thing I really liked about the movie was that the rock band was actually good. Usually when a movie about a band is made, the band is very mediocre, or bad. The music was even written specifically for the movie by Stu Read (I researched it). I also found that the soundtrack isn't printed in the US and it costs about $100 to get a new import. I think I will try my best to get the songs of Kazaa and make a make-shift Beyond the Valley of the Dolls album with my bare hands.
One reason I am writting so much about this movie is that it was one of the coolest movies I've seen in awhile (another reason for writting a lot is that i just saw it). It is very awesome and is so different from all other movies I've seen... except for maybe this one terrible 60s movie called The Girl In The Golden Boots. Beyond is like a really good version of that. The Golden Boots movie was very much so the same plot, but bad. I mean, for one thing, you probably won't find people being decapitated whilst the 20th Century Fox theme song is being played in the background in many other movies other than Beyond.
This is not your typical "sex, drugs and rockn'roll movie". No way. The list is much longer. It is more like a "sex, drugs, rockn'roll, sex, 70s, old weird looking party couple, swingers, boobs, random nazi, sex, 70s, boobs, gays, groovy, a million dollars, lesbians, superwoman and swords movie". And that's just the tip of the iceberg! There is way more sex that couldn't fit into the list. If that's not enough, this movie is where the clip in a Sublime song came from: "I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if all of the habitually smoked marijuana cigarettes... reefers". That's right, now I've got your attention, you Sublime fan you.
4 1/2 Stars

Movie Review: the Exorcist

The Exorcist is a movie about exorcising. The plot is mainly about this little girl who starts getting sick and it is later determined that she just isn't in shape. The only place in town with a resonably good gym is, you guessed it, the catholic church. The mom then hits on the priest until he helps with the training and getting the girl exorcised back to health. Eventually the girl gets so healthy and flexible that she can turn her head all the way around and run down the stairs backwards and upside down! Talk about fitness! By the end of the movie, the girl (who is named Reagan for reasons unknown) is back in shape and healthy again. Her exorcising was so intense that she doesn't even remember any of it! I hope they took pictures, cos if I could turn my head all the way around, I would want to remember it.
3 1/2 stars

Movie Review: Beavis and Butthead Do America

Beavis and Butthead Do America was not a good movie in my opinion. One might even go so far as to say it was a bad movie. It really wasn't funny. In fact, I don't know if I can name one funny joke from the movie. Wait, yes I do know: I can't. I slightly liked some of the aspects of the plot, but overall, it wasn't very good. It was pretty cheesey and predictable. All the jokes were just the characters saying "he said come" when somebody says "come here" and the like. Not to get me wrong, that is a high quality joke, but it gets old after awhile.
2 stars

I Need To Review Some Movies

I have seen some movies lately that I haven't had time to review, so I will make a short list of them now to refer to in a future time:

Beavis and Butthead Do America
Exorcist
Raising Arizona
Shining
Apocalypse Now*
Menace II Society
(possibly more I can't think of)

*I also recently read 'Heart of Darkness', the book that the movie was based on. I need to review that as well.

"Gene" (Jene? Jeane?)

A strange occurance. About an hour ago I was at Natural Sound looking at the used cds and this girl was looking at me. Eventually she came up to me and asked if my name was Grayson. I had no idea who she was. I said yes and she said her name was Gene and I probably don't remember her. Then she said that she was Will Bassinger's girlfriend in middle school and I started to remember her more. I don't think I'd even said a word to her way back then, which makes it weird that she remembers me so well. We had an idle chat and she said she goes to UNM now. The weird part was when she suddenly got excited and whispered "I've got some white widow. Do you want to come and smoke a bowl?". I didn't of course. I told her that my parents were eating next door and I was supposed to meet up with them in a few minutes... which I was. Eventually she just slunk away out the door. It wouldn't of been that weird, and I guess it wasn't really, but it just seems like a weird happening to be asked to go smoke with a girl that you vaguely knew years ago.

Deaf Puppy

My band that formally known as the Stereotypes practiced today at my house. As an essential part of the musical process, we of course, went to the park to play frisbee for awhile. Whilst playing the bee of fris, a father and daughter came to the park and brought this white boxer puppy. It was the coolest dog ever. It was all jumping around and following everybody. I love puppies. The guy said that it was deaf, but I would still like to have that dog, even if it's deaf... which it is. After that, we went to Colin's house for a while and watched skate videos, again as part of the musical process. And something happened there that I remember I was going to mention on this post, but I can't think of it right now...

Book Review: Hegemony Or Survival

'Hegemony Or Survival' is Noam Chomsky's newest work. For those of you who don't know of Chomsky, he is an emminent radical critic on US policy/forgien policy. The NY Times dubbed him as argueably the most important intellectual of our time. In his new book he explains how, now more than ever, there is a choice between global hegemony or survival of the human race. Chomsky discusses how, time and time again, US planners opt for temporary gains of wealth and power, over peaceful and rational solutions that will benefit our children. Like most Chomsky books, he gives examples of US-backed terrorism that still persist, and the facade of acting in 'defence'. His work is at a high reading level and takes a lot longer to finish than most other writers, but it's worth it when you are finished. If you are interested in understanding the path of US global dominance, I'd reccomend reading this book. Especially if you don't know what's up.
8 1/2 *

Cd Review: Cool Like You

As one might guess, the Descendents have gone down hill during the 7 year break. The new cd has a few good songs on it, but shit... it ain't the Descendents! I mean the old school Descendents were one of the best bands ever. This new stuff is trying to get all modernized or something..... it has it's moments, though. Colin was saying that he liked it and it's not really any different from the old stuff... Which begs the question: Is Colin an acid freak? The answer is: Yes. You must be on acid if you think the new Descendents sound like the old Descendents. In the vocals of Milo and even the music to some extent, you can hear old Descendents sound creep out from time to time, but overall it's really different. That's what I have to say about that... and don't do drugs.

I Get Harrassed: By A Porn Star

Vince, Robyn's BF, told me that Robyn and Shannon met some random porn star guy who came up to them at the mall and apparently, he invited them to a party at the Hilton. So later I was talking to Robyn (because she's owed me money for a long long time) and I jokingly said "So I hear Shannon is rising in the porn industry" and Robyn said "lol". OBVIOUSLY it was a joke. Yet Robyn got very mad at Vince and me for talking about it because she doesn't like when people "gossip behind her back" or something. Anyways, I mentioned how Robyn got mad at me and Vince to Colin, who is in my band and is Vince's best friend. Colin already knew about the whole Hilton party thing, and that wasn't the point of what I was telling him anyways. I was telling him it was dumb that Robyn got mad over such a stupid thing. Well, apparently my telling Colin of this got back to Robyn and Shannon which prompted them to harass me. Today in the parking lot of school, they waved me over to their car so they could tell me to quit "going around telling people that Shannon is a porn star". I asked who I was telling that to, and they said "Colin". Which is dumb, because that's not what I told him about, and he knew about the Hilton thing already anyways. I thought this whole thing was very weird that they would get so upset about something so trivial as mentioning that a porn star invited them to a party. That's when I realized it: Shannon actually is a porn star. That's the only reason that somebody would consider the invitation (to Shannon by the porn star to his party) to be top secret information. I explained my theory to Andrew, whole completely agreed:
if i were to jokingly call you a male-giglo to your friend. you wouldnt care...unless you WERE a male giglo, in which case you would get uptight and try to defend yourself and stop any possible 'rumors'.
I think all the evidence is there. The only reason anybody might take offense if you jokingly said "I hear Shannon is rising in the porn industry" is if Shannon was rising in the porn industry. Once you understand this truth, it's obvious to see that she is a porn star.

420: Kari, This Is For You

Kari Paustein had never heard of '420' until I mentioned it today to her. I for one hear of it all the time. For example, today alone I heard talked about at least 4 different times, I saw it written in the bathroom "420 bitch" and I saw a kid with a shirt that said '420' inside of a highway route sign. In Albuquerque, it is well known that many people go to Roosevelt park to toke it up in mass. 2 years ago it was very successfull, but last year I think the--HOLLY SHIT!!!! I felt something terrible on my neck when I was typing just now and I reached at it and threw it across the room. It was a fucking cockaroch!!!! It crawled up me onto my fucking neck!--Sorry for that interuption. I think insects like the cockaroch prove that God doesn't exist. Anyways, I think the last Roosevelt smoke out was stopped by the police. Lot's of people say different things about where the term '420' came from. The most common one I hear is that it is a "police code for drug bust". Well, if you want to know all about 420 and where it originated(I'm talking to you Kari), click here.
Personally I think 420 is stupid. It's a good plan if you want to get stoned on a day where everybody who doesn't want you smoking is extra suspicious. It's also a good plan to have drugs on you and go to a park and smoke in front of police. These are ideas of stoners. That's one nugget of proof that smoking can make you dumb. I once saw the stupidest 420 shirt (oh, and there are many). It said "it's 4:19, got a minute?". It didn't even make sense. Unless the shirt was supposed to imply that the person needed help getting ready for 4:20 and there wasn't much time left. It sure doesn't sucessfully state that they want you to get stoned with them, because your minute has run out by the time it's 4:20. I think it should say "it's 4:20, got 15 minutes?". Now that would sucessfully imply that they are asking you to get stoned with them. Or maybe even a shirt that says "it's 4:20, I smoke marijuana even though it's illegal, that's just how cool I am". Either one would get the point across. But certainly not the "4:19" one. That one is just plain dumb.

I Get Harrassed Lately

A couple of days ago I got harrassed TWICE at lunch. I wanted some mustard for my sandwich, so I went to our DECCA food service building. I had chips in my hand so I had to go all the way around the back enterance so they could mark my chips so they knew I wasn't stealing... even though the mustard was right by the front door. Anyways, I did that and I went inside and was walking to the mustard when the guy at the front door said "no, the mustard is over there". Which was weird, since he pointed to the mustard that I was obviously already walking towards. Right afterwards he said to a friend that was next to him "he would be able to see where the mustard is if he didn't have those shades on" (I was wearing shades, yes, but my mustard finding abilities went unscathed). I got the mustard, then walked out the front door when the guy obnoxiously said "you're welcome!", like he did some type of special duty for me.
Later during lunch, I was walking from a food cart after trying to get some Hawaiian Punch. I was walking in the grass, but then I saw this huge pile of poop for some reason, so I stepped to the side of it onto this concrete platform for a second while I passed it. A few feet farther onto the platform was some black girl sitting on the bench who said "damn, get back, nigga!" right when I side stepped past the poop. I wasn't even close to her at all!
Two days later, today, I had more problems at lunch. Me and Monet went to leave school with no problem, but when we came back, we mixed into a big group of people who got back from ditching. This huge asshole Narc saw us all from far away and said "all of you who are coming back from lunch that aren't seniors are in BIG trouble!" and so me and Monet just ran off campus. Then we got in my truck and went to the opposite side of the school to get on campus. Her name was then called to the attendance office, so we figured that the guy recognized her. It turned out that her mom brought her something.
On top of all that, while me and Monet were gone for lunch we were wanting to go to stop by my house, but my mom's car was there for some reason. I wanted to see if she was there and if the dogs were outside, so we drove up and parked next to Bandelier Elementary's soccer feild, which is right across from my alley. We walked down the alley and looked into my yard, saw nothing, then came back towards the truck, where there was a big group of little kids at recess who were gathered in the part of the feild that was a few feet from the truck. They were all looking at us and Monet jokingly said something about them plotting to turn us in for creeping around the alley. When we got close to the truck they were staring at us and whispering to eachother and you could hear "get the license plate!" and they all ran a few feet over to where they could see the back of the truck and they were whispering the letters together. It was really obvious and me and Monet were just looking at eachother "uhhh... what are these kids doing?". Anyways, I think it's obvious that these kids are plotting to further harass me. I'm going to try and be extra alert for the next couple of days, just in case.

MOVE Bombing Documentary

Apparently there is a new documentary on the Philadelphia MOVE bombing (playing somewhere). If you don't know, the MOVE bombing was when Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on a radical commune house when they refused to leave after being evicted. Damn, I want to see that documentary. Howard Zinn, an emminent historian intellectual of our time, narrates it. You can find out more about the documentary at www.MOVEfilm.com.

The Worst Thing I've Ever Heard Of

Tonight I found out the worst thing I've ever heard of: In the 60s, Castro came to power operating with a communist government. The US didnt want a communist gov in Cuba, but the Cubans loved Castro for getting rid of their oppressive government. There was no uprising to fund. So another way that the American gov could overthrow the Cuban government without looking like they were involved was having the CIA plan violent attacks on American civilians and frame the Cubans to raise support for ousting Castro. This is terrorism. There is no other way to phrase it than: American Terrorism.

In the government document:
(1) Start rumors (many). Use clandestine radio.
(2) Land friendly Cubans in uniform “over the fence” to stage attack on US base.
(3)  Capture Cuban (friendly) saboteurs inside the base.
(4)  Start riots near the base main gate (friendly Cubans)
(5)  Blow up ammunition inside the base; start fires.
(6)  Burn aircraft on air base (sabotage)
(7)  Lob mortar shells from outside of base into base. Some damage to installations.
(8)  Capture assault teams approaching from the sea or vicinity of Guantanamo City.
(9)  Capture militia group which storms the base
(10)  Sabotage ship in harbor; large fires - - napthalene
(11)  Sink ship near harbor entrance. Conduct funerals for mock victims.

I find this pretty funny... wait, no. Not pretty funny.. what's the phrase I'm looking for?... Oh yeah, Utterly Terrible.

Book Review: Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them

Al Franken's newest book, Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them is dedicated to exposing the lies told by right wing conservatives such as Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill O'reily, the President and more. Franken tells stories of his encounters with these people and the arguements that ensue, as well as pleanty of examples of misqoutes, things taken out of context, and just plain lies that the right uses in their books and media to label liberals as "terrorists". I can go so far as to say that this book was one of funniest, if not the funniest book that I've read. Franken's style is like that of Micheal Moore, but not as "for the family" and possibly with more personal situations and research, reminding me of a funnier Greg Palast. The only problem with this book is the hypocricy of it being labeled "a balanced look at the right". Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this, except for that it isn't very balanced: Franken is a gung-ho Democrat who is very opposed to the Republican party. I like how he satiricly exposes the Republicans for what they are, but the problem comes when he over-presents the Democratic Party. He clears up some lies that are told about Clinton and Gore, but he fails to mention the lies that Clinton and Gore tell themselves. He talks up Clinton to be the greatest President since sliced bread by only picking out certain aspects to mention. He has a chapter on how Bush helps destroy the environment and claims otherwise, yet he fails to mention that Clinton completely helped destroy the environment and tried to cover it up even more than Bush does. This is my only beef with this book. But, if you are going to read a book written by a certain party member, you have to keep in mind that there will be an expected Bias. And that goes for lots of things. At least Franken doesn't outright lie about things, he just overlooks the darker aspects of his own party. Even considering this, I'd say it was a good book. Definately worth reading if you are interested in seeing the complete lies told by these so called right wing pundits like Coulter.
7 1/2 stars out of 10

Chuck Palahniuk

Holly shit. A lot is happening in the world of Chuck Palahniuk right now. First of all, an "authors cut" if you will, of my favorite novel Fight Club is being released on the first of May. If that isn't awesome enough, my second favorite* novel by Palahniuk, Choke is going to be made into a motion picture. It is scheduled to start shooting this summer. It's weird. I had always thought about sitting in the theatre and seeing a preview saying "From the author of FIGHT CLUB comes the most thrilling thriller since sliced bread, LULABY!" or one of his other books coming into the theatre. Choke would actually be the last movie of Palahniuk's that I would guess would be filmatized. I mean, if that story is going to be on the screen, it's got to have a lot of script editing, and a lot of rock hustling. His latest novel, Diary is close to being signed for movie production as well. As far as his writing goes, a new book titled "Stranger than Fiction" is coming out June 15. On top of that Chuck is currently working on another book that I believe is called "Haunted". I think it is a collection of short stories, including the gross-out story Guts that was published in the new Playboy (yes, I've read it). There is also a Chuck Palahniuk documentary that is either out, or about to come out, although I have no idea where you would find it. Now, if all that wasn't enough, Fight Club is coming out as a video game for PS2 and Xbox. It sounds neat, until you find out that it is only a fighting game. I saw some screenshots, and it was neat to see the backgrounds (the Paper St. house, the office, the bar parking lot) in a videogame, but if it's only a fighting game, it might turn out to be a lame ploy to just try to make money off Fight Club fans, but who knows.

*my second favorite Palahniuk book would be a close tie between Choke and Survivor

Movie Review: Jesus' Big Adventure

On Easter, coincidentally, I saw the much talked about "Passion of the Christ" movie. It was pretty intense in some parts; making you feel the pain of the violence more than one would feel in most other violent movies. On the other hand, it did get a little out of hand. I mean, nobody would be able to withstand all the pain of being whipped with sharp rocky whips and hit with sticks for an hour...and then carry a freaking solid wood cross up a hill while being whipped some more... then be crucified and still be able to carry on a decent conversation. No, I don't believe that. I don't think the Bible (disiples) even meant it to sound that extreme. Yeah, he was supposed to be some super man, but not superman. He didn't have freakish stregnth or anything. He was just a man. A man so poor he only had one pair of sandals. He should have invested in shoes, because as Homer says, "maybe if he had better arch support he could have gotten away".

Movie Review: Adaptation

'Adaptation' is the story of what happens when a man, Nicoles Cage, is turned into a flower pot. Everything is going alright for our potted hero, until he is accidently knocked off of the table somehow. As flower pots do not have arms or legs, he was unable to get up. So he thought and thought and tried to figure out who knocked him off his ledge and why? What was their sinister plan? Why did they not want his plant to get the necessary amount of light that plants require? These are the starkingly real questions that this movie dares to answer. 'Adaptation' was directed by the same fool who directed 'Being John M.' and 'Eternal Sunshine'. I don't remember his name; all I remember about him was in this one interview I remember him rambling on about how he hates when people abbreviate movie titles (which I whole heartedly agree with). 'Adaptation' was pretty weird and I thought it was even more creative than 'Being John Malcovich'. I'd say it was worth 4 stars.

[4/17/04-Message from the future: It was later pointed out by Luis that the writer is the person who remains constant through the 3 movies, not the director.]

Strange Rumblings At Hobby Lobby

Today I, having nothing to do, went to Hobby Lobby with Katie and Karri. They needed posterboard for some project. While in line, Katie was talking about how she still has Ians plates. She said that he gave her cupcakes for her birthday and she still had the plates. I imagined all the little plates that the cup cakes were individually on, and asked why she didn't put them all on one plate. "What??" was the answer, followed by the ensuing confusion. I don't remember exactly what we were saying, but eventually she got the word out that there were cupcakes large quantities of cup cakes on two large dinner plates plates (as opposed to many individual plates for each cupcake*). It was at about this time that some large old woman in front of us in the line (I think she was buying some weird fake leafy stick things...) turned around and stared at us and started laughing... loudly. She looked at us, laughing, and then turned around after awhile. Of course, this lead me to start laughing very hard. Not because it anything was funny, but just because some huge old lady who was buying weird leaf stick things started laughing ostensibly about our cupcake conversation. Thankfully, I was not high. This is the exact type of situation that, due to Murphey's Law, tends to happen while you are high. At a time when you are so incredibly confused and high at the same time and you just want to ask "how did I get into a situation involving hobby lobby and laughing old leaf ladies and cupcakes!?!?". These are some reasons that I decided to quit taking the Devil's Harvest ahile ago. But even sober, I can't escape these terrible situations sometimes.

Deletin' Incognito Fools

From now on I am deleting any comments that don't have a name to go with them... Cypress Hill, I'm looking in your direction. It's annoying to read random comments and you don't know who they are from. So instead of filling in the names for the people, it's faster to just delete them. ;-)

Movie Review: Being John Malcovich

I have mixed feelings about "Being John Malcovich". It was creative, but I certainly don't like it as much as most people do. The cool thing about that movie that most movies lack was the fact that the main character had a monkey living in his apartment. I look for that in most movies I watch. Another thing I look for is Cameron Diaz, but not because she is a good thing. No. Quite the opposite. A good rule of thumb for knowing if a movie will have an annoying actress in it is seeing if it has Cameron Diaz in it. This movie might have been better w/out her in it, but as it is, it earns my 3 star rating.

Movie Review: Chuck and Buck

I watched this movie on IFC the other day called "Chuck and Buck". It was a pretty normal movie... until my dad came home. Murphey's Law was then applied to the movie and right when my dad came inside, Buck said to Chuck "do you want to play a game?" "like trivial pursuit?" "no like one of those games where you stick your dick in my mouth and I stick mine in yours... Chuck and Buck, suck and fuck". HORRIBLE!! The movie was completely decent before that too! My dad just looked at me and said "what are you watching?". Needless to say, it was terrible. The movie wasn't good either. It was really weird, and not a good weird. They also kept playing a really annoying song throughout the whole movie that went "Odely Odely Odely Odely Fun Fun Fun, yeah". This terrible terrible wretched thing gets 2 stars... out of FIVE!

New Background

Have you noticed my new background? It's real snazzy. As you can see, it's a bunch of cds. 25 to be exact; my favorite 25 I could think of off the top of my head to be even more exact.

Movie Review: House On Haunted Hill

A better name for this movie would be "House on Haunted Don't Fucking Watch This Movie It is So Damn Lame and Horribly Fucking Boring And Stupid". GDAMN! I hate these new 'horror' movies they pump out nowadays. How did I get sucked into watching this lame ass movie? Well, I remembered my friend Stacy talking about how it was the scariest thing since sliced bread. Apparently she had watched it in the theater with some friends like Amos and Alex and they all thought it was scary. Holly Shit. Talk about a lame ass movie that wasn't scary at all. The fucking 'Gremlins' movie was scarier then this! I really need to get more opinions on what is scary, isntead of just taking a couple of peoples' word for it. I remember the time that I heard Megan say that the Poltigiest was the scariest movie. I watched it, it sucked and she said that she never said that it was scary... who knows, maybe I misheard it, but the fact is that I really need to ask around more before watching a supposedly scary movie. I have yet to see a movie that scared me. I want to see the Exorcist, but the dvd I had of it broke halfway through the movie when I was watching it yesterday. I also want to see the original Chainsaw Massacre, which I have never seen any of, but it's impossible to find at your average video store it seems. I thought the new Chainsaw Massacre was very good for new horror movie standards, which are very, very low. It wasn't scary, but I thought it was done very well... and it probably scared some people, or at least the people that are scared by House On Haunted Hill. I have yet to see the original House On Haunted Hill, the Vincent Price one, but I'm sure that it is way better than this new psuedo-horror movie shit that we who live in the 21st century have to put up with.

Movie/Book Review: Requiem For A Dream

"Hubert Selby Jr is the master of showing us the heart of the heartless" (or something to that effect) is what somebody once said, and it couldn't be more true. In his novel Requiem For A Dream, he shows us the scum of the earth (deadbeat herion addicts stealing for money, crazy old ladies yelling on the subway) and looks deeper into where this came from. Selby gives the background of these characters and how they are normal people in every way just trying to get by. You can look at the story in many different ways and it's always good. For example, you could look at it as a story explaining the problems with our healthcare system. You could look at it as a story showing the parralells between the legal and illegal business; the 'panic' (herion drought) as it is called in the novel, was caused by some rich guy trying to stash an extra buck, causing the ruin of pleanty of lives. As I said, whichever way you choose to look at it, it's a great story... and not even in the plot sense alone. It is written extremely well and it has that Huber Selby style that I've never felt from anybody else's work. His most popular book, Last Exit To Brooklyn, was of the same idea; subject matter and writing style. Yet, these are both great novels that are completely different from eachother.
The movie, which it seems many people have seen, is one of the very few movies that does justice to it's book. David Fincher's directing of Fight Club was an example of when a book can be taken to it's 'cinematic heigth'; this same transition quality is found in Requiem. Darren Aronofsky, of Pi fame, was inspired by the novel and eventually decided to turn it into a movie with the author's help on the screenplay. Aronofsky's cinematics were top notch, perhaps the best I can think of in any film I've seen.
The movie did not stray far from the novel at all. A lot of things were cut out of the movie that were in the book, but this can be expected. The film made the movie's main point without having to simplify too much. An example of extreme simplification would be when 'Last Exit To Brooklyn' was made into a movie. Holly shit. Each character in that movie had the actions of about 5 characters in the book. One cool thing about Last Exit To Brooklyn was that there was no point to it. It was a deep look into the ordinary lives of the lower class in the 50s; it reminded me of Catcher in the Rye in the sense that it was the character you were learning about, not the story of what happens to him. When Last Exit was made into a movie, one could say that it was 'Hollywoodized'. It was given extra things that happened to make it have a plot and make it go somewhere. I guess it would be hard to have a movie where nothing really happened and manage to keep the audience entertained.
The little differences between the book and movie for Requiem were:
Harry's idea of making money and starting a coffee house turns into Harry's idea of starting a fashion store with Marion designing the dresses.
Marion's paintings that she would hang in the coffee house are scrapped and she instead makes sketches for her fashion designs.
The Barmitzvah dress was turned into the 'Graduation dress'.
Sal the Greek is now Sal the Geep.
Gogit, the guy who has little parties at his morgue, is now named 'Angel' and the whole fact that he works at the morgue is ditched.
The book has some cool stuff in it that is bigger than those things I mentioned. It's interesting because it gives you more information about the background of some things that are hardly mentioned in the movie. For instance, it gives you the hole deal on Marion's pshyciatrist and how she knows him. Also, there is one pretty big difference in the book that is later simplified in the movie.
In the book there is a huge part about the herion panic and how rough the streets are and people fighting and dying for getting it. All of this is simplified more in the movie, but what can you expect for something under a couple of hours long.
All in all, they are both excellent works. For once, I'd actually say that the movie is actually as good as the book, but for different reasons. The soundtrack for Requiem for a Dream is one of the best scores I have ever heard, if not the best. The book... well... didn't have a soundtrack. The book also lacked cinematography, but so do most books. The book is really really good as well, but like I said, for different reasons. You get a different impression from each than you do the other. I would easily give both 5 stars and recomend them to others.

When Ignorance Reigns, Life Is Lost

I was at rottencotton.com and I stumbled upon some weird section where people write to them about how the country rules and how we need war (I have yet to learn what that has to do with horror movie t-shirts). Anyways, Here is what I read:

Hey felleas hows it going just found out about your site through a friend i love and i will be buying lots of shirts from u for me and my friends. i read the article about your hate mail u get the about the stupid tree hugging bitch that said stopbombingiraq i live here in canada and wish to fuck i could have gone to war with the soldiers and blow some mother fucking iraqies to hell but unfortanitly i wasn't allowed i stick up for what u said about freedom and where we would be with out some blood shed we wold have necular bombs blowing up all over this fucking world i,ve got into fights in the bars about people sticking up for sadam and call bush a fucking idiot i've smashed out a few of those iraqie loven motherfuckes but theres 2 many so i think we should send them over there the way i figure it attack iraq attack iraq first we start with the protesters once we gain unconditional support the we kill the women and children so they can't spawn anymore fucking sadams and binladins k fellas im out just cole kicking it in new westminister vancouver B.C. getting ready to go comerical fishing on the high seas with my rotten cotton shirts -signed dustin hatchard aka the wolf wolfee66@hotmail.com

thank you! its about fucking time people started supporting our presidents, our soldiers, and our country. i am of course responding to what you told that dumb ass cunt on your site. fuck Saddam, that fucking camel jockey. when i see people protesting, talking shit about our country, and burning the goddamn flag, it fucking pisses me off, and im glad im not Bush, cause i would give the death penalty to anyone who dares to question the greatness of our country. once again, thank you. your site fucking rules. much respect, joe XSocialDFanx@aol.com

Holly shit. I think we all are dumber for having read that... I know I am. The main thing that steers these people into thinking all these fucked up notions about the middle east is the media. The mainstream media. Wait.. no... the MAIN thing that makes them think these things is Aladin, then the media. I think far too many people rely on Disney movies for their information. Well, that's what it seems like when you hear people call Saddam Husien a 'camel jockey'. Saddam Husein didn't go around riding fucking camels and shit! Christ! He lives in a part of the world were camels are more common, but that doesn't mean he fucking rides em! Shit man. Nobody calls us fucking 'lizard jockeys' cos we live in New Mexico. Or the Australians 'Kangaroo jockeys'. No! Saddam was a fucking rich bastard. He pimped it in some fuckin mercades or some shit yo. Even if the mutha fucka DID happen to stoop to a camel riding level, it would be some fuckin tricked out camel with hydrolics and some DVD player n shit. Anyways, the point is that when you are around animals, it doesn't necasarly mean you ride them. I think that needs to be brought up on CNN or something, so these people will learn. I bet that the average flag-waving American thinks: Islam is a religion based on killing people, everybody in the middle east is a Muslim, people ride fucking camels to work, there is a giant lion head thing that contains a magic lamp out there, and Saddam and Bin Laden kicked it on the weekends.
Man, I especially loved that brilliant bit about how protesters should be the first ones sent to war. That's what I call a good idea... That would dramatically lower the muntiny level. Let's send all the people that hate the army into a millitary base with M-16s...... wait. I was actually being sarcastic at first, but it's starting to sound like a good idea...
Well I'm ranting and to finish, I think that if given the chance I would gladly burn the American flag in front of some of these red white and brainwashed fools. In fact, I'd burn their American flag. Maybe give hang up the Iraqi flag in place... oh speaking of flags. Saudi Arabia has a pretty cool flag. It's up there on my list of cool flags, you can be sure. It has some swords and fucking palm tree action! It's the shit.

Bawl Like The Baby In Eraserhead

We, Deadmary, played this party in Rio Rancho the other night, and people didn't show up when I got there, so whilst waiting I watched the first half of Eraserhead in Ian's room. That's a really cool movie... I haven't finished it, yet, but so far it's really good. My favorite scene so far is when the baby is crying through the night. It's so creepy and surreal, yet completely mundane at the same time.
Oh yeah, who will be the first to reveal the source of the quote that is the title of this post? I'll give you a hint, it's in a popular song by a popular band--And no cheating! Looking it up is only cheating yourself! If you know the answer, comment it up. Church.

September 11 Poster

My insomnia last night possessed me to create this picture. I think it would make an awesome shirt... if you are down with being beat by the occasional ignorant redneck or skinheaded neo fascist.
God Bless America

Tiger Army

I just got home from Tiger Army concert... that would be the second time I've seen them. I saw them at the Rancid concert (the one where I only caught the last few songs of F-Minus)... This time there weren't as many people so it was better... although me and Colin only caught the last song of F-Minus again... oh well, I've seen em 3 times so it's cool... one of which being my favorite concert I can remember. At this show, I did happen to meet Erica for the third time, and she remembered me... but I had BLACK shoes, so I couldn't have her sign them THIS time. It was very dissappointing... for all of us.

Captured! By Robots

Have you ever heard a band that is made up of live instrument playing robots and one human? I have. I picked up the cd by "Captured! By Robots" for 2$ while I was in LA. It's not quite as impressive to hear them as it is to see them I'm sure (I haven't yet, but my friend Colin has). They have a robot that plays drums, one that plays guitar and bass at the same time, another one that plays drums (for fills on the toms and such), a monkey that crashes symbols and finally, some headless horn playing robots. Watch the video I linked above. It has all the robots in it. Oh, also, the robots talk to him sometimes and their mouths move when they do, but that's not in this video.

Movie Review: Delicatessen

I was able to bring in 'Delicatessen' to my french class and our class watched it. It is, afterall, a french movie, which helped sway our teacher to want to watch it rather than 'Ghost Ship'.... eww. I have not seen all of Ghost Ship, nor do I want to. I hate horror movies in general, aside from the classic black and white films and even some new ones if they aren't super cliche.
Anyways, Delicatessen is the story of an unamed futuristic post-Apocalyptic wasteland. More specifically, the story of an apartment building that thrives in said wasteland. The movie starts out with the most awesome opening credits of any movie I have seen. Upon telling Luis this, he asks me if it's better than Fight Club's opening credits. I had thought about this previous to the question and, while Fight Club has a really cool opening credit sequence, Delicatessen's is better. I'd probably say 'Yeah, Right' has the third best opening credits scene. Some other great opening credit scenes (off the top of my head) are in 'Catch Me If You Can' and 'Spiderman'.
The plot of Delicatessen is of the butcher (who is also the owner of the apartment) of the deli that is contained inside of the apartment. In this age of unsavory living conditions, food is scarce; so scarce that it even qualifies as their currency. It makes one wonder: How does the butcher manage to maintain his supply of fresh meat? Well, he simply uses the meat from apartment superintendants that he hires and kills. It is actually a system, this cannibalistic meat process, and all the tenants understand it. The newest superintendant is a circus clown who falls in love with the butcher's daughter. Will this clown be eaten? Will he taste funny? Find out by watching this foreign black comedy. 4 stizzles.

Note: From now on, I might not say "I just watched" or "tonight I watched" before I talk about a movie. That is annoying to type and probably annoying to read. The only reason I used to have that at the begining is so the reader knows that I recently saw the movie (I only review movies that I have seen within a few days). I don't review movies that I have seen a long time ago, unless I re-saw the movie recently. I watch about a movie per day, which explains why the reviews have been so frequent.

Movie Review: Kingpin

In 'Kingpin', Woody Harelson stars as a former bowling pro who recruits a young amish guy as his protoge. He trys to get the amish guy to enter competitions and eventually to try and twart Harelson's old enemy who is responsible for leaving Harelson with one hand. The movie is one of those of which you watch on a day when you have no school and it is entertainment. 'Kingpin' kinda has it's moments, but it's not something that you need to see, or that you go out of your way to rent. It was entertaining, I'll give it that; 3 1/2 stars.

Jack And Jill

Here is lyrics or a poem I wrote:

JACK AND JILL

jack and jill used to fight around here
now they worked together and claimed the hill
they share the water
they share the land
and they share eachother's plans

we all hope jack might fall down
(and jill come tumbling after)
someone else will trade the crown
and buy us all some ladders

Oz Coincidence

Last night I watched a movie called Delicatessen (I will review later) and the main character was an ex-clown who's old routine was with a monkey and was called "Stan and Livingston". I also watched part of the Wizard of Oz last night to see if I could find that myth about the "hanging midget". It turns out that it's just an emu in the background (they had live birds on the set). Anyways, today we just happened to watch a documentary in class about the Wizard of Oz and it said that one of the movies that was competing with it the year it was released was "Stanly and Livingston"!

Movie Review: Rollerball

This week I watched a few movies, one of which was the 1975 classic, Rollerball. It is about the year 2018 and there is a new ultra-violent popular sport called Rollerball. In the movie, the corporations have taken over the government for some reason, which really has nothing to do with anything, but it's in there. After watching this movie for awhile, I realized that I used to play a black and white game called Rollerball on the computer when I was in kindergarden! It was the same exact game. It's weird when you completely forget about things until many years later. Yesterday, I looked for the game to download, but I never found it. Anyways, the plot is about how the corporations want the star Rollerball player to quit, but he doesn't want to. It's kind of a weird movie, but not really even weird in a good way. Actually, it's kinda boring and not much happens... but it is still one of my favorite 'Asian Beating' films. Yes, lots of Asian beating to be had here. My Rating for the movie: 2 1/2 stars.

Things That Scare Me

I saw this picture of a bear today and it fucking freaked me out. The bear is so damn huge! It's like some twisted hairy devil. Another thing that scared me was this one tree that you can see about 3/4 the way into the movie "the Game" starring Michael Douglass. Look for a large tree in the background with an evil face... that scared me, but not as much as the bear did.

Alphabet Soup

Yesterday the strangest thing happened. After school I was eating some alphabet soup and I was making funny words in it, but every single time the same word came up! The word was "Oooo". It wasn't until today that I realized I must have been eating speghetti-Os.