Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Boregasm

It was early afternoon on a cold snowy day when I woke up from a nap, bleary eyed and content. I had been napping for a short time, but still long enough that it seemed my friend had never left for class like she told me she was going to just before I closed my eyes. On the television was Comedy Central, I had been watching stand up specials before drifting off. While trying to fall back asleep for just a little while longer, a name floated off the television and into my head: Dane Cook.

Now, I've had many discussions with people about this guy before, but nothing very serious. As I recalled his name now, however, I remembered an article that I read at Slate.com, an online opinion magazine. The review wasn't positive or negative, but it's probably not something that Dane Cook would put up on his refrigerator either. After reading through that article again, I traveled to a favorite website of mine, the Internet Movie Database. I looked up Dane Cook and like any IMDb page, the most interesting part were the forum posts at the bottom. I was surprised to see a post about somebody who didn't think Dane was funny. I clicked it and expected an onslaught of comments attacking the original poster. Instead, I was surprised that most people agreed with him. This surprised me because every time that I say that I don't think Dane Cook is funny, everyone jumps on my case.

It's not that I don't like Dane Cook (although I have said so in the past), it's just that he's not a funny comedian. It may just be me, but I think that comedians should be funny. I understand that some people think he's funny and a lot of people find much to relate to in his work. I can relate to his work too actually. I grew up Catholic but I don't find his Catholic jokes funny. Accurate? Yes. Funny? No. Dane Cook really is one of the most popular observational comedians, but the way he presents his material just isn't funny to me. I'll chuckle occasionally, but he never makes me laugh hard out loud, he never has.

Again, I like Dane Cook. Since becoming a celebrity, he's treated his fans better than any celebrity I've ever heard of. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and always goes above and beyond the call of duty. This is a very redeeming quality, but it doesn't make his work any funnier. Also, he's a good actor. I enjoy watching him on screen. "Waiting" was quite the funny movie and he was pretty good in it. I also was really excited to see "Employee of the Month" when it first came out and although I never actually got around to seeing it, I still hope to.

A lot of people take offense to this and become defensive when you talk ill of Dane Cook's comedic talent. It's great that Dane has so many people to fight so vehemently for him. Most of these people argue, however, that people like myself don't like Dane only because he's become so popular. Somebody commented that just because the guy who made the thread on IMDb.com wasn't on the Dane Cook bandwagon before he became popular that he's feeling left out now and therefore has turned to berating Dane. This isn't such a horrible theory, it's definitely probable that this could happen to a few people. That same thread on IMDb, however, had another fifty or so people who also think Dane Cook isn't very funny and it's very impractical to believe that their motivation for this is all because they feel left out.

How many people need to be in agreement on something before it becomes an acceptable opinion? It reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite, a movie that many people found hilarious. I was so excited to see it for so long because I heard so many great things about it. When I finally got around to seeing it, however, I was highly disappointed. Not only was I not laughing, but I was getting annoyed by the movie. I quickly found that I wasn't alone in this thought because most of my friends weren't that enthralled with the movie either. So many of my friends felt this way that I started to wonder where all the hype came from... it's still a mystery.

As for Dane Cook, I really like the guy and enjoy watching his movies. I don't think I'm just hating on him because he's popular. The fact that he's popular though, caused me to really look at him and watch his stuff. After doing all of that, I found he just wasn't that funny. There are far funnier comedians out there. Nick Swardson is always good for a laugh, Daniel Tosh can be quite the gut-buster, Ellen Degeneres has always been hilarious, Bob Saget has a form of crude humor that's fairly appealing, Jim Gaffagin is a popular comedian who deserves the attention... I could go on, but I'd have to actually think about more names rather than just pulling them off the top of my head.

Sorry if you don't agree, but this is just a thought that struck my head after coming out of a restful nap. Also, it's my blog, so I can write whatever the hell I want.

If you want to read the Slate article, go here: http://www.slate.com/id/2151046/

Here are some reviews of Dane Cook that I agree with in content even though I think they have a cruel tone to them:

Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone - "Yeah, we get it: the world's hottest comedian, a success story, the MySpace Generation, blah to the blah, but where are the fucking jokes?...It's like he's a lovable character Will Ferrell made up for an upcoming media-prank comedy, Funny Guy: The Legend of Dane Cook."

Comedian Ron White has criticized Dane Cook's lack of real material, calling him a "Smoke and Mirrors" act. (I agree with this, although White goes on to criticize Dane Cook for his arrogance, something I don't really see.)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Mastering the ART of Beer Pong

Since the start of the semester my friends and I have greatly increased our beer pong skills. We used to be novices and now we're experts. We practiced, and practiced, and kicked ass at parties. We always felt we weren't getting any better, but occasionally we'd have sparks of brilliance that just couldn't be overlooked. Recently, we've accepted the fact that we're amazing at the game now. Like any "athlete" we have our good days and bad days, but generally we're pretty consistent.

The highlight of my beer pong career came last week. My team had one cup left in front of us and the other team still had three cups. This, of course, meant that we were losing and in pretty bad shape. It didn't take them long to succeed in making our remaining cup, forcing us to rebuttal. I always go last in rebuttal because I work better under the pressue of win or go home. Well anyway, my teammate missed his shot, so I needed to make three in a row. I collected myself, felt the shot, and sunk the first cup. You know where this story is going, I made the next two cups and forced the game to continue. It was amazing. Three in a row. Go me. We ended up winning that game.

Anyway...this is not the point of this blog entry. So, onto the show....

* * *

Being a good beer pong player is just like being good at any other sport or game. There’s never any one right way to do it. Perfecting your game is a personal matter, as only you understand your own skills. Your depth perception may not be as finely tuned as your hand-eye coordination. Perhaps you’re better at bouncing than you are at arcing. And maybe your personal skill lies in your ability to drink your friends under the table while maintaining the kind of stamina that is needed for a winner. The best way to learn any game is to practice and nowhere is that more true than beer pong. In other sports and games you can observe the techniques of your opponent and style your game accordingly. This isn’t a game you play against an opponent; this is a game you play against yourself. Understanding how great your opponent’s shot is won’t win you this game because there is nothing you can do to stop them. The only way you can get better is to constantly be improving yourself. Remember when you were a kid and you ran an obstacle course around the house? Every time you ran that course, you’d attempt to beat your own time in an effort to make yourself better. That is beer pong.

Let’s start off with some basic rules. I assume that if you’re reading this or even if you go to college, you understand how beer pong is played. I’m not going to go into great detail in the rules, because many people play the game differently. There are, however, some things that remain constant.

Beer pong is a game played with two or four players. If there are two players, then there is one person on each side. Likewise, when there are four players, there are two people on each side. The number of cups used per team can vary between households, however the average number is TEN. These ten cups form a pyramid in front of the team: four cups in the back row, three in the next, two in the next, and finally one at the top. When my friends and I play one-on-one games, we use a pyramid of six cups rather than ten.

Who shoots first is determined by the house rules. There are many ways of doing this. Some people allow any team with ladies to shoot first, or whichever team has the oldest player. Another common start rule is that the owners of the house always get first shot. Whichever way you determine first shot is only important to the first game as all subsequent games start with the winners of the previous match starting the volley.

The rest of the game is fairly self explainable. Teams go back and forth, shooting the ping-pong balls at the opposing team’s cups. When a ball lands in a cup that cup is then removed and drank. Whichever team is the first to lose all the cups in front of them loses. There are various other shooting rules that come into effect during the course of the game, but I’m not going to get into them just yet.

PART 1: THE SHOT

There are many different ways in which to shoot the ball, many different grips, stances, spins, and follow-throughs. I recommend trying out everything I have to teach and finding out which one works best for you.

When I first started playing beer pong, I sucked. I didn’t have a problem getting the ball to the cups, but if one went in it was mostly luck. You may think that the goal is fairly simple, just aim the ball at the cluster of cups and hope for the best. That can work some of the time, but you have to realize that you’re not really doing anything when you do that, except praying it goes in. Playing with that style may win you the game, it may not. If you’re playing against a team that knows what they’re doing, you’ll probably lose every time.

I find that the most important aspect of a shot is the follow-through. While this may make your shot somewhat straighter, it’s not going to sink the ball for you. The best aspect of the follow-through is that it allows you to feel the ball and its direction. When you get good enough you’ll know if a ball is going to miss the cup the second it leaves your hand. I attribute this foresight to my follow-through. It lets me lead the ball and feel its trajectory. The best aspect of the follow-through is that it can really help you improve yourself. Eventually you’ll find yourself follow-through naturally. When this happens you can really feel a change in your shot.

Another important aspect of the shot is the arc. You can follow-through and have your shot be as straight and accurate as you want, but if you can’t get the shot to soar perfectly above the cups, then you’re going to suck big time. The arc aspect of a shot can be pretty second nature as a newbie rarely ever smacks the front of the cups on a consistent basis, but there are different aspects to arc that you can try out. Many people base their entire shot off of a high arc, preferring the ball to come straight down on the cups rather than toward the cups in a perpendicular fashion. Clearly, this has its pitfalls, as a high arc usually means you have to sacrifice some sense of aim. I prefer to balance my shot between the two arc extremes. It will become easier to focus on arc once your aim becomes perfect second nature. When you arc the ball, you always want to make sure you’re aiming for a specific cup. Visualize the shot in your head and feel it in your hand. Don’t try too hard, as you’ll probably over arc it. Never confuse arc with power. If you’re practicing arcing a ball and it’s going further than your normal shot, then you need to watch the power you’re putting behind the ball.

There are different ways of aiming your shot beyond the follow-through. My friends and I used to have an expression, “Aim for the beer, not the cup.” I say we used to have this saying because it’s complete bullshit and doesn’t work. I bring this up only as an anecdote. If, however, you do come across a phrase like this in your beer pong career then you will now know to avoid it like the plague. The best way of aiming is actually to aim for the cup. I prefer to aim for the back lip of the cup. You’ll always see it, it’s the only inside white of the cup you can really see. I like to aim for that because it means I’ll probably put enough of an arc on the ball to reach that spot and because that spot is slightly inside the cup which means my ball will go inside the cup. The dangers of aiming for this spot is that you might not clear the front edge of the cup or that you’ll simply just shoot too far. The best way of aiming is just to take your time with your shot. If you’re too hasty, you’re likely to be way off. I said it earlier, and it may sound a little “Star Wars”, but you really just have to feel the shot before you take it. Get into a zone and make sure the ball leaves your hand the way you want it to. Sometimes it’s not a bad idea to have a friend, who is good at the game, sit off to the side and observe your shot. He’s not personally connected to the ball, like you are, and always has a unique perspective on the game. When I do this with my friends, I can tell them if I think they should aim a little to the left, a little to the right, a little further, or if they should attempt to take the same exact shot despite the fact that they missed. This generally has a positive effect and can end up helping both of you.

Finally, something else you can practice with is your grip and various types of spin. These are not as important as everything else and can vary greatly. I personally grip the ball with two fingers and my thumb, whereas a friend of mine grips with three fingers and his thumb. Varying how this is done can increase and decrease level of control, power, and can even change your aim. Changing the spin you put on a ball has much the same consequences. Generally it makes a shot more powerful, but it also changes the way if bounces off the cups (for better or worse). Try all types of spin and observe the effect it has on your shot. Sometimes when I’m in a rut, I find that putting a bit of sidespin on the ball has a positive effect. A lot of people shoot with a backspin on the ball, in true basketball style. These practices are highly subjective, so you should find what works best for you in different situations.

PART 2: BOUNCING AND SWATING

Bouncing falls into the realm of specific house rules, but still has to be addressed. Most places where I’ve played beer pong have bouncing rules. The general consensus is that if a ball is bounced, the other team can swat it. The advantage to bouncing, however, is that if you make it in, the other team has to drink two cups rather than one. This, of course, means that bouncing is only a viable option when the other team’s attention is focused elsewhere. I would say, on average, it’s only possible to get one bounce in per game. After you do it the first time, whether you make it in or not, the other team will be paying a lot more attention when you take your shot. Therefore, if you want to do it right, you have to do it right the first time. Of course, if the other team is drunk enough (or ADD enough) it will be possible to bounce the ball multiple times without consequence. In that case, you’ll probably win no matter what.

Some people are naturally better at bouncing than others, but there’s no reason you should ever miss a bounce or even the opportunity to do so. Noticing the right time to bounce requires you to focus beyond the game. This is the one time that knowing your opponents will come in handy during beer pong. Don’t always wait for the other team to be completely looking the wrong way. If they’re only half paying attention, then they probably won’t realize you bounced it in time anyhow. There are many ways to time a good bounce. Find out what hand your opponent’s dominant hand is. This is pretty easy as it’s probably the one they’re drinking their beer with. When that hand is occupied and their teammate is similarly distracted, try for the bounce. Either they’ll fumble what they’re holding or they’ll try to swat with their off-hand and completely fuck it up (maybe even knock over some cups that are still in play).

Good teams, however, won’t just excel when it comes to swatting, they’ll trick the other team into bouncing. This is a tactic I use against people who love to bounce, like one of my friends/teammate. If you notice that your teammate isn’t paying any attention, pretend to do the same thing. Don’t look at the cups, don’t look at the other team, and don’t even look at the table. Make sure, however, that the game stays in your peripheral vision. If done right, the other team will attempt a bounce, feeling that you’re not paying attention. At that moment, you’ll snap to attention (because you’ve been watching all along) and swat that thing back to the seventh ring of Hell. The same thing works in one-on-one games. Recently my girlfriend said something jokingly mean to me and I decided to use it to my advantage. I just stared at her like I was pissed off. Even though she looked away or said something else, I just kept staring. At first, my opponent was interested in the “fight” between us, but then he realized his “opportunity” and went for the bounce. Since I had been waiting for it all along, I had no trouble swatting it away. Doesn’t make a huge difference in the long run, but that’s one less shot I had to worry about. I’m pretty sure I ended up losing that game too. Oh well.

Bouncing is so attractive, not just because it can eliminate two cups, but because it actually is easier. If you practice on your own, you’ll find that you make a lot more cups when you bounce every ball than when you shoot every one. It takes a lot less skill to bounce…under the optimum conditions, that is. Usually, if you’re in the midst of a game and you recognize the opportunity to bounce, you only have a few seconds in which you can do it. Generally, this time falls between when your opponents are drinking and when you’re cleaning off the balls. As a general rule of courtesy, never bounce a ball before it has been cleaned off. You might find the right opening, but it’s just gross.

There are various ways of bouncing, but I find the best way to do it is to make the bounce as close to their cups as possible. This makes the bounce less noticeable at first and actually makes it much more difficult to swat. Since the ball is so close to the cups, it increases the chance that they’ll hit a cup rather than the ball if they try to swat it. This method of bouncing takes a lot of practice since any ball bounced that close to the target will more than likely fly over it or fall too low. Another great way of bouncing (probably the only other good way of doing it) is to go fast and low. This is just as hard as the first way because actively attempting to go fast and low at the same time generally leads you to just shoot a grounder into the front of the cup. The advantage is, of course, that it’s much harder to notice in time and rather difficult to swing your hand at.

The major problem that most people encounter when attempting a bounce is that they just don’t have enough time to think about it. Like I said before, you only have a short window in which your bounce will be unnoticeable, and so most people just try to get it off as quickly as possible, no matter what that means. Practicing bounces will really make you better at them in a pressure situation. The ultimate goal is to the get to the point where, like many skills, it becomes second nature. When this happens you’ll be able to bounce it perfect no matter how little time you have. So find out which bounce works best for you and perfect it. Such a skill won’t come in handy for every game, but when it does, it will be worth it. There’s nothing worse than missing a perfect bounce opportunity.

On the other side of the table is the ability to swat. It’s pretty straightforward and takes nothing more than good hand-eye coordination. As long as you’re paying attention, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to swat any type of ball bounced your way. Just be careful of how you’re swatting the ball, as you don’t want to make the embarrassing mistake of knocking over some of your cups. Alcohol does many things to the body. It can fuck up your game enough without having it draw your attention elsewhere too. Take beer pong serious and you’ll be successful.

PART 3: TACTICS

Tactics are a simple aspect of beer pong and not something that will take too long to inform you of. The longer you play beer pong, the more your friends and you will develop your own tactics together. I would say that no two people play the same way and some people are far more creative than others. However, there are some basic tactics with many different variations, many of which I’ll never see. Work with your friends and teammates to create new and interesting tactics with which to beat people down.

There is one tactic that a friend of mine used to use all the time when we were first starting out at beer pong. Nowadays, he can’t use it as much because everybody expects him to do it. Nonetheless, it was quite effective back when it was fresh and new. Every so often, at a party, we’ll come across people at the beer pong table that we’ve never met before, and can, therefore, break out this tactic again. Sometimes it works, often it does not, but it’s worth a shot (pun very much intended). Basically, what he used to do was have me shoot first and then bounce his ball the same time I shoot my ball. This has a double effect. Either they won’t be expecting it and won’t be able to react in time or they’ll go for the swat and interfere with the thrown ball resulting in the loss of a cup. In an ideal situation, the opposing player would both interfere with the thrown ball and miss the swat on the bounced ball…maybe even knocking over some cups along the way.

Another tactic that is actually pretty elementary stuff is just to work well with your partner. If he makes a cup, try to aim for the same cup. It doesn’t work all the time, but when it does, it’s both a great way to get rid of cups and a moral booster. This tactic is highly variable to house rules. It’s important to do this in games and my house because if both balls land in the same cup it equals three cups removed and a ball return. Once I was actually in a one-on-one game where I was up five cups to one and my opponent hit both his shots in one cup, got the balls back, and hit the last two cups separately. I didn’t make my rebuttal and lost in a brutal fashion.

There are other shot tactics that you should figure out with your friends. Some are simple and some are trickier. For the most part, the game is fairly linear without too much room for highly creative maneuvers.

Finally, it would be hard to talk about tactics without talking about distractions. I’ve never been to a party where distractions are illegal. Basically you should be able to do whatever you want in front of or behind your cups while your opponent is taking his shot. As long as you don’t actually interfere with the ball or the cup, it’s generally allowed. Distractions come in many forms. I have one friend who loves to just swing his hand in front of the cups or partially obscure them from view. Girls love to take a more sexual approach when they’re playing against male opponents. Trash talking, mocking, mama jokes, and weird noises would also fall under the category of distractions. When at all possible, I like to make my opponents laugh right before the ball is about to leave their hand. I have a teammate who loves to make fun of himself and the way he distracts people. He even once showed his penis to my future girlfriend for twenty dollars. I’m sure that distracted quite a few people in the vicinity.

If you’re ever faced with somebody using their hands as a distraction, visualize the point on their hands you’d have to hit to get the ball in the cup. If your shot is off, remember what you have to do to fix it next time they do a similar distraction. I generally find, that when an opponent is trying to distract my aim with his hands or other body parts in front of and around the cup, I shoot too far. I’m not sure if that would be true of everybody, but keep that in mind. Just remember that a shot taken with a distraction has to be approached in a different manner than a shot done distraction free.

Good luck. Drink responsibly.

Monday, August 28, 2006

It's My Line

I've been putting off writing this update because I think it's just going to be so damn long. My only real motivation to actually put the time into writing this is so that the newest post in this blog isn't one that links to a video of six half-naked Japanese guys. In the same vein as that post though, I'm going to show you many many videos. These videos will also make you laugh, but the good news is that they will never creep you out...I hope.

In your continuing journey to learn more about me I've decided to share another tidbit. One of my favorite television shows is probably one of the (if not THE) funniest television shows ever. It involves 4 guys, and a rotating group of many others. These guys go by the name Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady. Some of the others that are great on the show are Chip Esten, Brad Sherwood, Greg Proops, Kathy Greenwood, Jeff Davis, and a few others. If you're television savvy at all, you'll know that the show in question is "Whose Line Is It Anyway?".

If you've never seen this show before, you've been missing out. Unfortunately, for the entire world, the show ended about 2 years ago due to poor ratings. This, however, was not the show's fault, but the network's (ABC). Originally the show aired on Thursdays at eight o'clock, a horrible time slot since it was against Friends on NBC. Still, the show crawled on and survived until it was moved to another time. Unfortunately, for the show, their time slot changed again and again and again. Anybody who liked the show had a hard time keeping up with the changing schedule and, hence, barely ever knew when it was on. The show finally settled on a Friday time slot, but it was too little, too late, and the show went under. Last year, ABC Family started running new episodes made of footage from the show's tapings that had never been seen before.

I'm not suggesting that you start watching the show regularly (which you can, every weekday on ABC Family at 10pm and 10:30pm), but I highly suggest that you watch a few clips from the show that I have compiled here. These clips are the best of the best that I could find. I'm sure there are amazingly funny bits of the show that I couldn't find, but I'm sure that you'll be pleased with what I did manage to get my hands on.

For your convienence, I've sorted the clips by the title of the various game they're playing. You're welcome.

MOVING PEOPLE
~ Lone Ranger and Tonto
~ With Richard Simmons

THREE-HEADED BROADWAY STAR
~ Lumberjacks In Love: Timber
~ Memorobilia: I Love Your Legwarmers

NARRATE
~ The Maltese Burger
~ The Cassabas of Melnar

PARTY QUIRKS
~ Colin's "Touching" Performance
~ Ryan's Best Moment

SCENE TO RAP
~ With Stephen Colbert

NEWSFLASH
~ Colin Behind Colin

SUPERHEROES
~ Captain Hair

WEIRD NEWSCASTERS
~ Jeff Davis' Christopher Walken Impression

SCENES FROM A HAT
~ Including "Unusual Times To Kiss People"

LET'S MAKE A DATE
~ Colin's Big Scene

SOUND EFFECTS
~ Amusement Park
~ Tarzan and Jane
~ Jurassic Park
~ Cops

HOLLYWOOD DIRECTOR
~ "Get The Fuck Off!"
~ With ROBIN WILLIAMS

SONG STYLES
~ The Village People (with backup)

IMMPROBABLE MISSION
~ Cleaning the Burnoose

QUICK CHANGE
~ Colin is Pregnant
~ Western Riverdance

DEAD BODIES
~ Charlie's Angels (and Colin's oopsie)


And finally, I want you to watch a clip from a short-run show called, "Drew Carey's Green Screen Show," which is very similar to Whose Line. The game they play in this clip is called "Freeze Tag" and is exclusive to the Green Screen Show. You'll catch on pretty quick and this clip is quite funny. Enjoy.

FREEZE TAG
~ Yoga Hurts


I'd like to thank YouTube.com for hosting all these videos and I want to thank the people who actually recorded and uploaded these videos. Now that that crap is out of the way, I hope you enjoyed watching them, however I know that many of you are probably reading this after only watching a few of the videos (yeah, I'm talking to YOU). If that's the case, then you suck. Plain and simple, you suck. It's not opinion, it's fact, you suck.

You suck.

Stop reading and go watch the videos again.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Warning -- Not For The Mature

This video was popular quite a few years ago throughout much of the world (but mostly Japan and North America). My sister first showed it to me quite a few years ago. Like most people, when I first saw it, I thought it was a little weird and a little creepy. The song was catchy enough though. Still, I watched it again later and the more times I watched it the more ridiculous it became, and the more ridiculous it became, the more funny it was. Eventually, it got to the point where it became the funniest video ever. I love seeing the looks on people's faces the first time they watch it, it's priceless.

Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this back now is because I recently came across it again, but this time I watched one with subtitles. I also learned that the video was a satiracal comedy sketch about Japan's ailing government. Despite that fact that the video is fake, it still became massively popular, and for good reason. In fact, it became so popular that Jimmy Kimmel invited the six guys who did it onto his late night show. I watched that video too, and it was even more funny.

When you watch these videos I want you to watch the one without subtitlies first. The fact that you can't understand what is going on was part of the reason the video became so popular in America and why I found it so funny. After you've come to appreciate the original version, then go on and watch the one with subtitles. While watching the one with subtitles, remember that it's a satiracal sketch poking fun at Japan's government (like SNL often does here). The lyrics are funny, but they're even more funny when you somewhat understand the context they're being used in.

YATTA! (without subtitles) - By Happatai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-feLDOpJfYg

If you watch the one with subtitles first, I'm warning you that you'll ruin it for yourself. If you've already seen Yatta and know what it is, then, by all means, watch the subtitled version.

YATTA! (with subtitles) - By Happatai
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9rWFZesV8s

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Warning -- Not For The Immature

I found this written on a website recently. It wasn't exactly the type of webiste you'd expect to find something like this. I didn't think the guy who ran the website had a mature or sincere bone in his body, but I guess you can never judge a book by its cover (or even its first few pages apparently). I don't know why it resonates with me so much, as I don't find myself in any sort of love with anybody. But have you ever thought back in the past, to somebody you thought you loved, only to realize maybe you didn't? Of course, you have...and at the same time you're wondering how you can even tell the difference. Well maybe that's what it is. Anyway, read this quote and maybe you can get an idea of what I'm rambling on about:


No one can tell you whether or not you're in love. I believe that when it
happens, you'll just know. It won't matter what other people tell you, or what
they think. But, truth be told, it's hard to define love, even when you feel
what you think is love. There is no set test. There are a lot of symptoms,
however. If you find yourself thinking about her all the time,
if you would prefer to be with her over anyone else, if you can imagine spending
the rest of your life with her, if you feel comfortable imagining being faithful
to her forever, than yes, you may well be in love. I would say, however, why
does it matter that you give what you're feeling a label? The feeling is the
same, no matter what you call it. You don't need to call it "love"...just enjoy
it, go with it, take it as far as it will go. Being in love is nebulous at best.
You can't always just pin it down, and say 'yep, this is it. I'm sure now'. Love
will grow, or it will die out. You can't really predict the future. So I would
say, stop worrying about what to call what you're feeling, and just do what
feels right, and things will work out as they're supposed to.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Will You Go See This Movie?

I'm not in such a lighthearted mood as I usually am when I write these things. I generally try to keep it fun and less than serious. Right now, however, I'm feeling everything the opposite of light hearted and fun. I'm feeling a little angry, a little annoyed, and deeply upset.

It's impossible to ignore that today the movie World Trade Center comes out. I took a poll on MSN.com that asked "Will You Go See This Movie?". 15% of people will wait to see it on DVD, 42% of people said they will see it, and 43% of people said they will not. Hollywood has given itself a pretty bad repuation over the years, and no doubt that factors in to the winning 43% of people who don't want to see this movie. I'm sure the fact that Oliver Stone, a 9/11 conspiracy buff and notorious cliche Hollywood director, does not help the movie either. Yet, Oliver Stone didn't become popular for being biased and sub-par in his movie making. People are afraid that Hollywood is going to destroy something that should be honored and remembered. Many people are afraid that's it's too soon. It has, however, been 5 years now. 5 years is not too soon. We are at the point now where we've moved on. Sure, we lament the loss of so many lives, but we've learned to deal with it, as all people eventually do. There will never come a time in any of our lives when we'll be able to think about that horrible Tuesday without choking up, getting goosebumps, or staring depressingly into space. So, if people are trying to avoid that, they're fighting a losing battle. Ignorning the truth of that day doesn't make it easier to understand or easier to bear. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I plan to, as soon as possible. Just watching the preview I get choked up, get goosebumps, and stare into space. This is why i'm feeling deeply upset.

As I do with most movies when I'm thinking about them and I'm online at the same time, I typed over to IMDb.com to check out its page. As I am wont to do once I reach these pages, I scrolled down to the forum posts made by the idiots of the world. The first one I clicked on started as a nice discussion but quickly moved into the realm of conspiracy and "I hate President George Bush" liberals. The feelings of people ranged between abosulte conspiracy nut, open-minded man on a soap box, anti-conspiracy realist, and "all you mother fuckers should just shut up now" psycho. I found it amazing how some people could take the smallest bit of anything and turn it into evidence of a conspiracy. I checked out some sites people provided because I like to have all the information I can, and mostly I found that the people who support these theories WANT there to be a conspiracy as if that would be better than what we all know as the truth. One guy uses history as a metaphor, referring to the Boston Tea Party that took place before the Revolution. He said that these people dressed up as Indians when they threw the tea into the harbor. He said clearly the Bristish never believed that Indians actually did this because they would've used some disguise and they wouldn't benefit from the tea's destruction at all. He goes on to say that since it was clearly middle eastern terrorists who caused 9/11 that it couldn't have been them at all and that if we want to figure out who really did it, we should research who benefited the most from this atrocity. Later another person agrees with him saying, "Yes, whoever benefited the most is the person behind 9/11." This is a ridiculous way to think about these attacks and I hope nobody else ever does. For one, the Muslim extremists who did this were not looking to benefit. These people feel they are fighting a war agianst the enemies of their god. They hate us and are trying to kill us. Our death is their greatest joy. In that sense, they benefited more than anybody. Two, I would hardly call the 9/11 attacks succesful. I once heard that there were many more plans that were supposed to have been hijacked and thrown at American institutions, but things did not go off as planned. All planes were forced to land and pilots were taking extra measures to assure safety. So saying whoever benefited the most is the person behind it is foolhardy since whoever was behind it didn't get the result he expected and therefore would not have benefited as he wanted to. More so than any of this though are the people who say that because the White House lied, hid evidence, and covered things up, that they are clearly hiding something or, at best, are fueling the conspiracy themselves no matter how untrue it may be. I'm sorry, but these people are fooling themselves if they think it's our government's responsibilty to be open and honest with us about everything. Thank God that the competent people who run this country keep secrets and hide things. Just because the goverenment lies to you or doesn't tell you something, doesn't mean there's something sinister going on. A government can not run on open honesty. It is not the responsibility of the government to hold your hand and walk you through all their ideas and decisions. There are some things that are best left secret, there are some things that are better for the public not to know. This is why I'm annoyed.

The worst people on these forums though are those that think the lies of President Bush are a greater atrocity than 9/11 was. The people who have no honor and respect for those who lost their lives in 9/11 because, "people die every day." The people from other countries who think America brough this on themselves. This is why I'm angry.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Future Studies

I'm not going to lie to you. Our relationship as blogger and reader is too pure to taint with anything as devious as a lie. Besides, the truth is such a lovely and refreshing thing. And so, here it is...I truly love the Harry Potter series. When I was young and in middle school I loved it for the magical-ness about it. Now that I'm older that's all nice and good, but I'm starting to love it more for the amazing way that J.K. Rowling writes the books. I love the way everything is so perfectly crafted and even the smallest things can turn into huge plot twists.

Anyway...I want to delve into my own predictions for the future (and final) Harry Potter book. First though I want to recap my hockey and basketball playoff report.

The Red Wings lost in the first round as I'm sure you all know by now. It was a horrible and depressing blow. I couldn't believe it had happened. I took some comfort in the fact that all of the top four teams from the regular season lost in the first round. Then again, none of those teams have had such awful playoffs runs in the last few years after winning Lord Stanley's cup.

The Pistons played much better and showed they had the best record in the league for a reason. They beat their first round opponents and moved on to the second round where they currently still battle. Their battle is a losing one so far though. After winning their first two games rather handidly, they lost their next three in rather close battles. It's a little depressing as well, but they're not down and out and I still carry much hope.

Also, regarding the NBA, my predictions for first round winners was amazing!! All of my predicted teams (except the LA Lakers) won their first round match ups and moved to the second round. When it comes to the Lakers, they have a 3-1 series lead and unfathomably blew it and lost 4-3. My NHL picks did not go nearly as well, I think I only picked correctly in maybe one or two match-ups.

So, let us wish the Pistons luck in games 6 and 7, and let us move on to Harry Potter.

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First let me say that not all of these ideas were originally thought up by me. In my bored periods I've sifted through many different theories, many completely ridiculous (Luna Lovegood is Snape's daughter?!), but there were many others with great evidence and which made a lot of sense.

Even after reading the 6th book I thought that Serverus Snape was still good. Dumbledore clearly had some reason to trust him that is unclear to us even now, despite whatever Harry told everybody at the end of the book. Yes, Snape's murder of Dumbledore is rather incriminating, but it doesn't mean he's evil, there's a million reasons why he HAD to kill Dumbledore. I no longer think that Snape is good and was always on the side of the Order of the Phoenix. Don't take this to mean that I think Snape is evil and has always been on the side of You-Know-Who, because I don't think that either. As Lupin once said in the 5th book, the world is not split into good people and death eaters. I think Snape is a very confused man. I saw a very good psychological profile of him that I believe to be correct. There is evidence to the idea that Snape's father, his MUGGLE father, was abusive. This leads heavily to Snape hating muggles and his lonely and angry persona even as a child. I believe this lead to Snape looking for a proper father figure in his life. The first person to become this father figure for him was You-Know-Who and even as he entered into Dumbledore's employ, he was loyal to him. Yet after You-Know-Who's downfall, Snape would be looking around for somebody else to fill that roll. And that somebody else would become Dumbledore. I think that Snape came to see that You-Know-Who never loved him and he felt more affection for Dumbledore than he ever felt for You-Know-Who.

There is another aspect about Snape I want to mention though. I'm starting to believe that he was also in love with Lily Evans, who became Lily Potter after her marriage to James Potter. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I think it's true. I think Snape fought with himself over this because for one, she was muggle born, and two, she was in Gryffindor. I think Snape hated himself and feared himself because of these feelings for her. Which might also explain why Harry sees Snape in Snape's own foe-glass. A foe-glass is not a mirror afterall.

The two paragraphs above well explain why Snape hates Harry so much. In regards to the first paragraph, he hates Harry because he's jealous of him. It's clear that Dumbledore very much loves Harry. Snape hates that Harry is taking his father figure. This explains why Snape's hatred for Harry increases over time. Yet, he originally hates Harry because he hates James Potter, the man who married his Lily Evans.

Snape will save Harry's life (probably at the cost of his own) because he loves Lily. Love is very powerful.

~~~

Okay. So now lets address these ideas that Dumbledore is still alive. I really don't think he is as much as people want him to be. Do I think it's possible? Very much so. But I think it's just too optimistic to believe.

Some people say that Dumbledore has a horcrux. I think it's an interesting idea. I'm sure Dumbledore has killed an evil wizard or two in his time (thus ripping his soul). Some people believe he then created a horcrux out of convience. Yet, the creation of a horcrux is powerful DARK magic and somebody as pure as Dumbledore would not practice such things.

~~~

Moving on. I think Tonks is a spy. I have no real evidence to support this claim, but I think she is a death eater or a ministy spy. There's no better person to be a spy than one that can change their appearance at will. I think her love for Lupin is real though.

~~~

Hagrid will die. This seems almost natural to happen. It will probably happen quite early in the book too. As for any of the Weasley's dying, I don't see it happening. They seem to have the aversion to death no matter what mortal peril they find themselves in. Lupin will not die, at least not before killing Fenrir Greyback which he obviously will do. I also don't think that Harry will die. I thought for a long time that surely he would die at the end of the book. It almost seems that he has to. But his relationship with Ginny changed all of that. He now has too much to live for.

~~~

The final battle with You-Know-Who will be an interesting one. So many people near You-Know-Who are going to turn and help Harry in the end. Snape stands by his side now, but I think he will give his life to save Harry. Wormtail will help Harry out in someway and You-Know-Who will murder him for it. And finally, Draco Malfoy will help Harry. Draco is not evil, he's a good person....deep down. I don't think Draco will die, but I can't say as much for his mother and father.

~~~

I have no idea on the remaining Horcruxes, they could really be anything. I think R.A.B. is either Regalus Black or is more than one person. If it is in fact Sirius's brother, then the necklace that nobody could open inside the Black household in book 5 is probably the necklace Harry is after. I hope he kills Nagini with Gryffidor's sword. Oh...that reminds me, I think Dumbledore was Gryffindor's heir. Speaking of heirs, remember Zacharias Smith? I'm pretty sure he's related to Hepizabah (sp?) Smith from book 6. I think he's the heir of Hufflepuff. I know Smith is a pretty common name, but I don't think it's mere coincidence. As for the heir of Ravenclaw, who knows, maybe it's Luna Lovegood.

~~~

I have more ideas and such but I'm just too tired to continue on with such speculation. Besides, I could speculate on a million things, be correct in every case and still run into a million surprises in the new book....whenever it comes out (some people think it will be on July 7, 2007...07/07/07...which makes a lot of sense to me).

Stop reading (I know I did many paragraphs ago)....

- Rian