So my buddy Matt has been writing his top 5 albums and, for some weird reason, I thought of Bugs Bunny.
I have always been a huge fan of Bugs Bunny cartoons. They are the reason that, to this day, I avidly watch animation. It is also the reason that I refuse to give up my childish sense of humor.
This stuff is funny. Here is the list:
5 - What's Opera Doc?
This is the "Kill the Wabbit!" and "Spear and Magic Heeeeeelmet!" episode. This one is just genious. The only reason it's not higher on the list is that it doesn't have a lot of the classic humor.
4 – Duck Amuck
This one isn't Bugs heavy, but still a classic. This one was the Usual Suspects of Bugs Bunny cartoons and Bugs is Kaiser Soze.
3 – Wabbit Fire
This one is the "Rabbit Season!" "Duck Season!" and where Daffy keeps getting bullets lodged in this face. And "Hey laughing boy! No more bullets!" kills me every time.
2 – Long Haired Hare
This is where Bugs squares off with the Opera singer. The sequence where Bugs comes out as Leopold is pure gold.
1 - Bully for Bugs This one has just about every major joke in a bugs bunny cartoon. From the "left turn at Albequerque" to the ridiculous Rube-Goldberg device at the end. There's even an "Ultra-Maroon" in there. This one makes me laugh no matter how many times I see it.
Before we get started, let me say, I am a full time student and I work the rest of the time. So, I don't get out much. But for what I did, here's my list:
Best Movie: Granted, I didn't see a lot this year. For what I did see, The Bourne Ultimatium rocked my socks off. Say what you will, Matt Damon makes a great spy. This movie was a lot of fun. Although, I am seeing Sweeney Todd tonight, so this opinion may change.
Worst Movie: Tie: Spiderman 3/Darjeeling Limited. Spiderman 3 is a prime example of what happens when you try to tell too much story. The plot was all over the place, there was no explanation for anything and the acting was phoned in. I suspect Sam Raimi got his check and left the movie to the Assistant B Director. Darjeeling Limited was a movie that was about 100mins but felt like Dental Surgery done though your ass. I tend to like Wes Anderson movies. They are melancholy and a little muted. But if there ever was a Wes Anderson movie that was made just so Wes Anderson fans could jerk-off, this is it. It takes 2/3 of the movie before anything happens and the characters are so one dimensional that you can;t see them with the human eye. Granted, the visuals are great, but isn't there suppose to be a story too? When it was over I thought, "Did I just sit here and watch 15 minutes of actual story stretched out over 100 minutes...and had to endure Owen Wilson?"
Worst Beer: Toohey's. Some shit-tastic Australian beer. Use only for torture.
Best Beer: Thought I'd say Kostritzer...HA! It's Flying Dog's In Heat Wheat beer. Goddamn this is tasty. If you like a wheat style Hefeweizen, or if you're not a puppy kicking commie, then you'll like this beer.
Best Album: Year Zero - NIN. Yeah, this is atypical of me. Gee, Alex likes the NIN? Go fig. But this really was an amazing album. The viral marketing that went behind it was extremely creative and complimented the album perfectly. The album tells a story and tells it well.
Worst Album: I have an iPod, so I don't subject myself to shitty music. So HA! So go listen to your Maroon 5 or Fergie.
Best Party: Glen and Aggie's wedding. At one point we all had harlequin masks on and dancing to Dance Magic Dance by David Bowie. That alone wins the prize. Runner Up: My 30th birthday. Rebecca flew in Ryan and we all got drunk at Lederhosen. Awesome!
I'll probably keep adding to this list through the rest of the year (as I remember shit).
I lived with my mother, my father, and my older half-brother. My brother lived with us until he was about 8-9, and then moved out to live with his grandparents.
But then, my mother and father had my sister. But for the most part, I had myself and my dad. Since my dad was a drunk and drug addict (but still a nice guy) his attentions were elsewhere.
I would look up to my older half-brother who (who I have never seen as a "half-brother"). He was cool, he was good at everything he did and he treated me as any older brother would. He was mischievous, he was strong and he was smart. Everything I wanted to be.
But he wasn't the most moral guy ever. He got involved in a lot of bad things as a teenager. But he still treated me well, even if he wasn't known as a "good guy."
And it seemed that no matter what, I always looked up to him. I saw the ambition, the drive and the know-how to do anything well. Granted, he used this ability for not the best activities...but the skills were obvious.
Now he's past his big demons. And he's doing well for himself. And I find myself more in awe of his abilities to overcome his past; to find the silver lining within himself.
Were talking about a guy who went from getting shot twice in the face from a druggie, to owning a giant house and making a killing in the housing market (even though it is in recession). And not to mention giving me some of the best nieces ever.
OK nerds...Here is my complete Potter prediction list. Now this list will be filled with spoilers from the first 6 books, so if you haven't read them, then stop reading.
Let's start with some easy ones
Ron and Hermione - They will hook up. I also think that neither one will die. These 2 will survive to carry on the legacy (explained later).
Ginny Weasley - We'll see amazing things from Ginny. Ginny will turn out to be more powerful than expected. She is the only other person, other than Harry and Dumbledore to fight against some version of Voldemort and live. I think we'll see some major hexes fly from her.
R.A.B. - These were the initials on the note that Harry found in the fake locket. Whoever R.A.B is, they took out that horcrux. So who is R.A.B.? My prediction, Regulus Black, Sirius' brother who turned Death Eater, but then turned against the Death Eaters.It was he and Kreature that found the locket and brought it back to the Noble House of Black. Kreature had tried to hide it in Order of the Phoenix. But Mundungus may have sold it off in his rummagings of Harry's new home.
Now some more difficult predictions
Neville Longbottom - I believe that he will be the downfall of Bellatrix LeStrange. There will be a showdown between the 2 and Neville will do something that will result in the accidential death of Bellatrix. Granted, he'll be trying to bring her in, but something that was meant to do one thing will turn out to kill Bellatrix.
Lupin, Bill Weasley, Tonks, Fluer and Greyback - Greyback, Lupin and Bill will have a showdown. Greyback will prove to be the stronger of the 3 and right as he's about to kill Bill and or Lupin, Tonks and Fleur will jump in and hell will hath no fury like a Frenchy and a Metamorph scorned. Tonks and Fleur will kick Greybacks ass.
Dumbledore and Sirius - Yes, they are forever dead. But they will still be a factor. Dumbledore will still be in the protrait and be able to offer advice. Sirius will be available in the 2-Way Mirror that he gave Harry in Order of the Phoenix. We'll see these characters in the last book, just not in a way that will be extremely helpful.
Draco and Lucius Malfoy - Lucius is currently in Azkaban and when we last saw Draco he almost turned against the Death Eaters and joined Dumbledore. But now that he failed to kill Dumbledore, Voldemort will be pissed. And he's already pissed at Lucius for getting captured. I think that Lucius will get out of Azkaban and when he re-joins the Death Eaters, Voldemort will kill him in front of Draco. This will set up Draco turning against Voldemort and joining the Order.
Peter Pettigrew - Peter owes Harry a life debt (from Prisoner of Azkaban) and Peter will cash in with his life.
Harry and the Horcrux - Harry is not a horcrux. Neither is his scar. Some people thought he was a horcrux because of the wording of the prophesy. IN Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore calirfies the meaning of the prophesy by saying "...neither can TRUELY live..." so it wasn't meant to be taken literally. The prophesy was a metaphorical thing. And not only that, but once Dumbledore knew about the horcruxes, he would have been able to figure out if Harry was one. I mean, if we, as readers woudl suspect it, then Dumbledore, the most knowledgeable character in the series would ahve been able to figure it out. He found the ring without even really knowing it was a horcrux, so he would have known if Harry was carrying around a piece of Voldemort's soul. Also, in Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort cannot stand to possess Harry. If there was a fragment of Voldemort's soul in Harry, then Voldemort should have no problem jumping in. The horcruxes will be objects, just like Dumbledore predicted. The hard part will be finding them.
Snape, good or evil? - Snape is working against Voldemort. He's the perfect double agent. He's a master Occlumens and he's done what no one has been able to do, kill Dumbledore. I think that Dumbledore and Snape were communicating through Legimency (silently casted) during that last scene in Half-Blood and Dumbledore sacrificed himself so Snape could get in the good graces of Voldemort. Snape will then use his new found position to gather information about the remaining horcruxes. Snape will feed Harry, through anonymous sources, the information. Snape will still appear to be a bad guy. Eventually Harry will figure out Snape is really working for the Order but that will be right about the time that Snape is killed by Voldemort.
Harry, live or die? - My prediction...Harry to die. We're talking tragic hero style. Ron and Hermione will be the ones to carry on Harry's legacy.
So, there you go. Will I be right or wrong? We'll find out on Saturday.
Douche Baggins
Current mood: annoyed
Category: Life
Did I not get the calendar that marks this as being Week de la Douche?
In the last week I've encountered an increasing number of douche-nozzels.
The first encounter of the week was this guy at my friend's bachelor party. See, this guy is fairly arrogant under normal circumstances and we usually blow it off because it's mostly harmless. Well, he's the best man, so it's his job to organize the bachelor party. And he does. He gets us a room at the Westin hotel in Times Square (so we can party all night) and buys 3 big bottle of booze. We all meet up for dinner and he wants to take bets on who is going to pass out drunk first. Well, everyone at the table says it will be him. He tells us that it will not because he "can party like a rock star." Well, sure enough, he goes down at around 3am, but not before we get choice pictures (on his camera) of him puking on the street. We're talking mid hurl. Well, his ego kicks in and he says that he's going to erase the pictures...then he takes a cab back to the hotel. When we finally get back from the strip club, we find him passed out. We then proceed to draw on his face, as is custom. Then the groom and the co-best man get the idea to take the memory card out of the camera so the contents cannot be erased. I let them know that I have a reader that can extract the pictures. So I get saddled with the memory card. The next day, the groom calls me to make sure I have the memory card. I tell him that it's safe and I'll get him a copy of the pictures on DVD. We then arrange a drop off of the memory card on Monday. Everything seems kosher. The next day I get an e-mail from the guy saying that I was "spineless" for not contacting him directly. This is while he's sending out a mass e-mail thanking everyone for coming out and having a good time. What a fuck-stick.
Douche-rinse 2 is this guy at work. He's one of those "let me interrupt your casual conversation so I can correct a trivial detail that makes no difference what-so-ever" type of guy. He even does this when people are taking about something work related that has nothing to do with what he does. On Thursday, he has the stupidity to say to another co-worker that he doesn't believe that any of us work because we tend to talk a lot at work. Hey asshole, it's not my fault that I'm so good at what I do that I end up with free-time. It's obvious that he's pissed because we never talk to him and he has to interrupt just to get anyone to speak to him. Eat a dick.
Vinegar and Water sac 3 just happened today. Rebecca and I go to the grocery store and on our way back we are about to pull into the drive way. Our street is a one way and people park on both sides of the street which gives barely enough room in the middle for cars to get through. It also means that people tend to park so close on each side of people's driveways that it means you need Batman like driving skills to pull into your driveway. Our dive way is on the left, so I pull just a little bit to the right (to increase my turn radius) and this Dean Kuntz that is right behind us tries to pull around us. Well, not thinking that anyone could ever be that retarded as to try to quickly try to navigate a sapce that not accomodate another vehicle, I pull to the left into my driveway. Well, the Kuntz honks at me like I'm in the wrong. So I give her the Jersey greeting and continue on my way into my driveway. The bitch then sticks her head out to continue to yell at me. What it was, I don't know. Probably something about bleeding vaginas. Seriously, how much must your life suck to get pissed at someone when you're being the retard?
Seriously. Are people's lives so deviod of interesting things that you must create drama around you just to have something? Is it really better to have stupidity than nothing at all?
and before I get into how it was good, let me throw out a little background. I have read each book at least 3 times and could probably write a masters thesis on the story arcs. That being said, I still love the new movie.
I have poked around some reviews of this new Potter movie and have seen one giganitc whine fest. The biggest complaint is that the screen writer took some minor liberties with some story arcs and changed who did certain actions. And it couldn't have been done better.
To anyone who's in the "Oh my god, Cho didn't do that!" camp...let me just say, go slap yourself. The things that were changed and/or condensed were done so for several reasons. The main one being, and I'm going to try to be subtle here, YOU CANNOT FIT ALL THE MAJOR STORY LINES AND NOT HAVE IT BE A 7 HOUR MOVIE!
So...If you haven't seen this movie yet...STOP READING NOW!
SPOILERS ABOUND
Yeah, some things were changed, but done so because it gets the main idea of 2-3 story arcs out and the final outcomes remained the same.
For instance, the Cho Chang-Harry Breakup/The DA gets busted/Umbridge is a Cunt for using Veritaserum on a student. In the books, this arc was spread out over several chapters. IN THE BOOK: The Breakup is there so Harry and Cho can meet, kiss and then move on. The breakup is an eventual falling out due to Cho's manic depressive feeling toward Harry and Harry not understanding girls...The DA Getting Busted is there to give a sense of doom to the characters because it ends with Dumbledore having to leave Hogwarts. In the book, Cho friend rats out the DA...Umbridge using Veritaserum on students is to show how evil this woman is. She tries it on Harry, but Harry suspect foul play and doesn't drink it...In the book, Rowling milked these stories for all they were worth. And she could because it is a book and you can do that. IN THE MOVIE: these stories were wrapped into one arc. Harry and Cho are doing good until Umbridge finds out about the DA from Cho (who appears to rat them out), this causes Harry and the whole DA to be pissed at Cho (which appears to end their relationship), but then you find out that Umbridge used Veritaserum on Cho (which is another nail in the Bitch Coffin).
See...There is no need to waste a bunch of time in the movie to carefully explain each story line. It was artfully wrapped together to get all the major points across. Another bitch I read was about the end sequence. The main complaint being "it wasn't long enough...blah blah blah." Yeah, it wasn't very long in the book either. It took 2 chapters for the entire Ministry of Magic sequence in the books and most of it was the kids running through a bunch of rooms. Granted, it wasn't a bad sequence, but there was very little actual wizard fighting. And if memory serves me right, you see more wizard on wizard action in the movie than what Rowling described in the book.
Another complaint about the end was how Sirius Black dies. Yeah, it was a bit of a mystery on what happened in the movie...It looks odd...but it was suppose to be! It was a mystery in the book as well. Yeah, Rowling took half a chapter to have people explain it to Harry, but it still ended up with "what the hell was that arch, where does it go, and how did it kill Sirius?" The main point, it was a mystery (that will probably get some more explaination in the last book). And it remains a mystery in the movie.
These are just some examples of people who were crying that the movie changed some things. And this is what I have to say to you...
IT"S A MOVIE! How many times do people have to say "the movie is different than a book?" Seriously. In a book you can have all sorts of secondary and tertiary stories. But a movie, especially in this case, should revolve around the main story. In the story of Harry Potter, there is soooo much going on in the main story that there is no possible way to show, in a "true to the book" way, how some of these secondary and tertiary stories feed into the main story. Yeah, they need to be present, but if you can trim the fat (so to speak) and show how it plays into the main story, then do it and keep moving...There's still a lot of story to tell.
See, Rowling is very good at writting all these secondary and tertiary storylines and having everything wrap up at the end in this nice little package. But the problem lies in the fact that there is no way to try to do that in a movie. If you open that can of worms you'll have an hour of each movie spent on just providing quick backgrounds of story arcs that provide just 1 detail to the main story arc.
So, quit cha bitchin and realize that the movies are for the people who haven't read the books...not the other way around.
animated
exhausted
excited
annoyed
relieved
