Drop This...

So yesterday, after 8 years of dropped calls and mysterious charges, I finally dropped Sprint. My plan was essentially $50 for them to poop in my ear. I only got 350 minutes and like 300 texts. And that's it. I switched to AT&T for a plan that is $55 and I get 450 minutes with unlimited emailing and internet and 200 texts. It's not bad. Much better than Sprint. It's strange but it seems like all cell phone companies don't give a damn about current customers. They only seem to care about bringing new people in. I say this because Sprint goes out of their way to make sure if you already have a plan that you can't get one of their cool new ones. It's kind of counter intuitive if you ask me. Give people good service and they will stay with you. But it isn't just Sprint, it's everyone. It's a vicious cycle of people switching servers. I know people who hate AT&T, but I still switched. I guess the trick is to find the lesser of all of the evils. I would have gone with something else perhaps but I am saving up for an iPhone which is sadly only compatible with AT&T. Sad no more.



















My new phone is pretty cool. It's very trendy. I am usually behind on phones. I get good ones but I always seem to get them right before the next generation comes out. My last phone wasn't even bluetooth compatible All of my phones have been tanks though. I never go for the flimsy RAZRs or what have you. I buy the ones that only break if you load it into a bazooka and shoot it into some dynamite. But this time around I got a brand new one, the LG Shine. It's pretty fab. It has a slide up screen which I give less than a year before it breaks because it's too cool to last very long. It's got a pretty nice camera on it and you hold it like a regular digital cam. It also alerts me when I get new mail and I cn surf the web and it can play MP3s. It's pretty much a poor man's version of an iPhone. All in all, it's cool but I can tell that it's on the verge of breaking already.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to. That and kicking ass. Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - I finally can also send and receive picture texts so if you got something funny, wend it my way. Sprint used to charge you 19 million yen for every kb you download.

Saving the World...

Feed Lot in California


Brown Guy sent me an article in the Times about meat and meat production that you should all read. Essentially it detailed the effect meat production is having on the world. It compared the crisis to the effect oil is having on the world. Both are unnecessary evils that are around purely because people are fat, lazy, selfish and greedy. I have tried to convince all of you to eat less meat for a while, though I'm sure it only made you eat more to spite me. But perhaps if not for my moral reasoning, maybe for the environment. Years ago I went to a PETA conference and one of the things they explained to us to help us convert to being a vegetarian was the effect livestock has on the environment. For example, it takes on average 4 or 5 servings of grain that are fed to livestock (it varies depending on the animal) to equal the amount of nutrition we would get by simply eating the grain ourselves. Now if you take the energy it takes to produce that grain (the amount of feul, processing etc.) and multiply that by the amount fed to all of the livestock in America alone, the energy wasted is jaw dropping. Aside from the obvious pollution factors that come from any plant, animal warehouses also have the ability to harvest antiobiotic resistant bacteria.

As most of you know I have already cut down my meat consumption in an effort to be a vegetarian some time in the future but did you know that by cutting it down just 20% is the equivalent of switching from a Camry to a Prius. It's only a couple of meals a week without meat, it isn't that hard...

Here's a good quote from the article: "If price spikes don't change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals."















After moving to New York and seeing the excess waste and pollution that you really don't see in Michigan, I became much more of a doer than a sayer. It's very simple to say that you are going to have less of an impact on the world but a very different and often harder thing to actually do it. One reason it was so easy in New York was because people are so conscious about it. I could go to Whole Foods and buy organically grown food and often free range chicken (with my canvas bags in tote and reused plastic bags for produce), I could recycle everything (our kitchen garbage was smaller than a normal bathroom garbage) and I could walk everywhere. It is a very easy place to get by being very low impact. That is one of the reasons returning to life in Michigan is much harder. The closest Whole Foods is over an hour away, there is no convenient place to recycle and the city doesn't do it. And you can't get anywhere without a car. It's a much harder thing to accomplish when there are no means to do it. Which is why I have had to try and put in a much more focused effort on doing what I can until June when I move back to NYC.

Here are some things I am trying to do to help the environment that maybe you can too: Re-use everything (bags, containers, jars). Don't leave unless you have to. Without any friends it's very easy for me to only leave my apartment to go to class and not drive anywhere else. Always try and buy things that are not just organically grown but low impact. As the word "organic" is becoming much more popular, the line of what it means it getting blurred. Sometimes it just means they don't use pesticides (which is still good) but other times is doesn't really have any effect on the food. Buying organic chicken is a good thing, but mostly for our bodies as opposed to the environment. A lot of times a box or label will say organic and then tell you how and those are usually the ones that have less of an impact. If you don't have a canvas grocery bag get paper or reuse your plastic ones.

Anyways just some thoughts on how to make this planet better for our kids/ferrets. Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - Tyson now does not use antibiotics or hormones in their chicken which is good for our health but they do have huge chicken farms and very inhumane methods of killing them so if you can buy another brand I'd say go for it, though usually if you are shopping at a store that isn't a Whole Foods type place you are shit outta luck.

Run Forrest, Run...

While I was in DC over new years I had a conversation with Brown Guy about running. I used to run for 1 mile and call it quits. I wasn't necessarily dead tired after a mile, but I was bored and satisfied and sufficiently out of breath that I would call it a day. I went for a short run in his gym and was back at his apartment in about 15 minutes. He asked why I only run 1 mile and I told him the above reasoning. He proceeded to tell me that I could run 10 miles. I told him he was insane and wondered who in their right mind, aside from some dude in Kenya running a marathon, would want to run 10 miles. I told him 1 was my usual and 2 was my max. I hated cross country running and never even really liked track for that matter. But recently I've realized that it may not be all that ridiculous.

This year is turning out to be the year of healthy choices for me. Aside from my diet change, I've also upped my usual runs from 1 to 2 miles and Friday I decided to push it to 3 miles. I was definitely tired. There was also no way I could have possibly made it 10 miles but I wouldn't doubt 4 or even 5. I've also realized that what I eat has a direct correlation to the amount of energy I have at the gym. Sounds obvious right, but I have never actually put it into practice before so only now can I really see the light. In the past I would eat like I used to do normally, nothing bad for you, just lots of indian food, mostly rice and chicken and vegetables, and then I would try and run on that. Bad idea. It was part of the reason I was tired. Now I have found the wonderful joy of cliff bars and yogurt and it's not hard for me to run a few miles.













This is what came up when I googled running...





The reason I mention this is that no matter what I do (not including a drastic change) I am going to weigh in the mid 160s. I'm currently at 162. Still I actually dipped almost to 160 but that was sort of an anomaly. With my height 160-170 is pretty normal and my previous desired weight of 160 was erroneous because I forgot to take into account that muscle weighs more than fat and as I burn fat and gain muscle it's only natural I'm going to gain some weight back. I guess there's not really a point to this blog but I would like to know how far people have ran. I might have done more before, but currently since I can't remember ever doing so I think 3 miles is the furthest I have ever run. I know some people who read this ran cross country and I'd be interested to know not only how far but what people's times were. It took me about 27 minutes to run 3 miles. Not very good. It's averaging a 9 minute mile. Anybody gonna beat that?

Go big

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - State of the Union tonight. Pretty excited that this is GWs last year in office. Also, just a reminder that Super Tuesday is in 8 days so if you people are fortunate enough to live in a state that has a primary/caucus that matters (still mad at Michigan) please go vote. Spend this week figuring out who for and do it.

Rolling Through SC...

In case you missed it last night, Barack had quite a night in South Carolina. It was again the largest turnout for a primary/caucus. So far every state has set a new state record for voter turnout which is really amazing. It's pretty fantastic actually...



















Also, Tsonga may be my new favorite tennis player. In recent years I had been rooting for Nadal only because he posed the only real threat to Federer, but now I am hoping Tsonga will be the next best thing. Even though he lost last night ot Djokovic in the final, it was still a great match and hopefully he'll be around for a minute.

Also in case you missed Obama's victory speech in SC...





More later...Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - I'm usually one to love winter from december through march but to be honest I think I'm over the snow. Unless someone will go snowboarding with me soon, I'm ready for spring to come in...

Weekend Warrior...

So over the last two nights I saw two very different movies (it's easy to spend your weekends doing exactly what you want when you have no friends). I started out the weekend with a bang when I went to go see the latest (and greatest) installment of Rambo. I must say, though not surprisingly, the movie kicked ass. Like literally kicked ass. It was everything a Rambo movie needed to be: lots of killing with minimal dialogue. Stallone kept the script so that the lines only preceded a ginormous killing frenzy. It may have been the New York Times who actually tallied the deaths, but there were at least 230 people that you see get killed. The cool thing about this was that it was much more extreme than previous Rambos. People weren't just being stabbed like it was First Blood Part III, instead they were being disemboweled. Towards the end, and this ruins nothing so don't worry, Rambo hops on a gatling gun for literally 10 minutes and just shoots everyone. 10 minutes. It ruled.




















After last night I felt I owed it to the filmmaker in me to go see something that required lots of talent in both acting and directing so tonight I went to go see There Will Be Blood. I have been waiting for this movie forever. Daniel Day Lewis may be one of my favorite actors of all time and I think if I were ever to direct a movie and he were in it, I would pee my pants out of fear of embarrassing myself in front of him. He's that good. Not like he would ever do a movie I wanted to, but you know what I mean. The movie was probably one of the best acted movies I've seen in a long time. It was sort of a masterpiece on a lot of levels, but to be honest, it didn't really do it for me. It seemed like I was waiting for something to happen the entire movie and then at the end it was just kind of over. It's definitely worth a rental in a few months but save your money for Rambo, or if that doesn't float your boat, go see Juno. There Will Be Blood was DDL at his usual amazing self and Paul Dano (of Girl Next Door fame) surprised me with how good of an actor he is. I can't really put my finger on what it was exactly but I don't see what all the hoopla is about. I mean I think it definitely deserves a Best Actor nod and Best Director, but not Best Movie. Strange I know but trust me on this one.

Anyways, aside from that I didn't leave the apartment this weekend so I don't really have any stories. Keep your ear to the grindstone though...Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - Going to see a movie like Rambo by yourself might not be the greatest idea. It's hard to completely appreciate the absurdity of it all when you have no one to make jaw dropping googly faces at when Rambo shoots somebody through the skull with a bow and arrow...

An Examination of People...

Recently to help me gather character traits about people to use in my scripts, I have started observing people. It started in class, mostly as a tool to keep me from killing myself for taking classes again, but really to help me write scripts. One of the reasons I went to film school was because of Wes Anderson, and one of my favorite things about his films is that all of his characters have very unique interesting character traits. Often they are ridiculous and hilarious, but they are what make his movies so special to me. I have always been a fan of people watching (and silently judging about how I'm way better) but lately instead of just noticing the crazy things people do I have been wondering why.

So I am going to start an ongoing segment of analyzing the people in my Astronomy class. It's actually the most mixed class I may have ever had as far as characters go. For a class that has only 30 people in it, it really runs the whole gamut of people you might ever run into. For example there is at least 1 douche bag and 1 douche baguette (though so far she has been pretty nice to me) there is not 1 but 2 forty year old looking dudes who don't seem to know anything beyond the fact that their mustaches rule (no lie). There is the blonde who spends a while getting ready who sits next to the girl who rocks anime sweatshirts and does not spend a long time getting ready. There is the asshole who hasn't grasped the fact that talking and making rude comments during class stopped being funny in 2000 (when I graduated high school). There is the guy who wears the same sweatshirt everyday (but it's cool because it's a Pistons hoodie), the guy who never reads or does his homework (not me (I actually find it hard to feel like I'm better and smarter than everyone else if I don't do the work)). What got me started on this though was this girl I had to work with last week.




















She has never cut her hair. Ever. Very interesting. I was shocked. I found myself wondering who she was and why she would choose such an odd thing to do. My curiosity came out and I started asking her questions. Nothing personal, just annoying mostly hilarious questions. For example (I actually asked her these), "Have you ever gotten a hair cut?" "Do you sit on it a lot?" "How long on average does it take to dry and which part takes the longest?" "Do you sometimes use it as a scarf if you get cold?" While these questions may seem ridiculous to ask a person you don't know, for some reason they were all that came to mind. In retrospect I should have asked her why, but there is time for that. I guess what I'm wondering is why people do the things they do. What reasons could this girl possibly have for never cutting her hair? I don't know but I'd like to find out. This year is shaping up to be a strange one and I just decided I'm going to make it less convoluted and try talking to people and figuring out what makes them tick. After all I did decide that I needed to let you all know what makes me tick didn't I...

More soon. Go big and all that greatness...

Coolness
-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - For those of you wondering, Yes, she sits on it sometimes and yes, it does pull her head back and hurt a little when she does. It's about halfway down her calfs. She didn't know exactly how long it took to dry but that it wasn't that thick so it wasn't too bad. She does not use it as a scarf and perhaps took offense to the question even though she smiled when she answered.

The Joker...

So apparently Heath Ledger died today. That's pretty sad. Undoubtedly his performance in the upcoming Batman movie will garner a lot of attention. As if The Dark Knight needed anything else to make it darker, it is now 'clouded with mystery.' Aside from that I really liked Heath as an actor. I was very excited when he decided to do Batman and have always been a fan of his work. At 28 he was definitely too young to die...

Life has been boring over here. More soon. Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - Pistons losing 3 in a row? What is happening to the world...

Searching For Bobby Fischer...

One of the coolest stories I think in recent American Pop History is the life of Bobby Fischer who died yesterday. Aside from being one of the greatest chess players in the world, he lived a life only a spy could dream of. Popping up across the globe like Jason Bourne. It's crazy to think that despite being very Anti-Semitic and Anti-America, he was (is) still championed as an American hero. He beat the Russians. He's America's great hope. Only in this country could we hold someone with so much disdain for us on such a high pedestal.

“It was Bobby Fischer who had, single-handedly, made the world recognize that chess on its highest level was as competitive as football, as thrilling as a duel to the death, as esthetically satisfying as a fine work of art, as intellectually demanding as any form of human activity,” wrote Harold C. Schonberg.

A couple years ago I remember seeing a piece on ESPN with Jeremy Schapp called "Finding Bobby Fischer." It was about how Schapp's father, a famous journalist, had been a father figure to Fischer and how Bobby later became crazy and anti-semitic. Bobby was very angry about some things Dick Schapp had said about him and confronted Jeremy about it at a press conference Schapp was at when Bobby was released from a prison in Iceland. I couldn't find it on youtube but I found an article about the piece that is worth checking out.



Anyways, more soon. Go big and stuff...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - Searching for bobby fischer is an amazing movie and if you haven't seen it yet, don't watch the clip, it's the ending of the movie. instead go rent it or go on youtube and you can watch the whole thing. i think it's been broken up into 11 clips.

Bring Out Your Dead...

So first of all, I guess the plague is back. Bring out your dead. It's pretty cool if you think about it. It's like having dinosaurs come back, only in viral form. Actually, it might only be cool because Monty Python has made it so hilarious. I guess it has killed a couple hundred people over the last 20 years, but is now spreading. Hopefully it doesn't actually become a viable threat to catch the plague. Just another thing to worry about I suppose. I mean it would suck to have to start taking a new round of vaccines...



Also, for those of you who care and especially those who don't care, cover your eyes (and ears) - American Idol is back. Tonight kicks off the new season (maybe the 6th?) and it's my favorite part of the show. 2 hours of laughing at how bad people are and how seriously some crazy people take criticism. I like it when they cry. That's the best part. Watching people's lives fall apart gives me sooo much pleasure. Mostly because I feel if their whole life was based on getting on to AI, then they deserve to be laughed at. I'm sure I'll post something about it soon.

On a minor side note the Michigan primary is today. I say minor because as many of you know, it's only a republican venture. The democratic votes don't count. Awesome! I love it when things that I'm really passionate about don't mean anything. It would have been nice if they changed it back to Super Tuesday, but alas Michigan feels that the best way to jump start the state with the worst economy in the country is to have a primary that would exclude those that would try to fix it. One of these days this state is gonna do something right and hopefully I'll be alive to see it happen.

Anyways, I'm back to hating school again. There's nothing more pointless than homework and such. I'm not really sure why I am taking these classes and if I didn't have to take them for my internship I might reconsider LA (not really, that's how much I hate that city...). But seriously, how am I going to be an effective parent one day when my kids come to me telling me how much they hate school. I'll have to lie to them and tell them it's fabulous. That's great. I'm already lying to my unborn children.

Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - American Gladiators might be the only show worth watching on a sunday night since Grey's premiered 4 years ago or whenever. It's got all the best elements of the old one and they only added some kick ass parts like water and fire and Hulk Hogan...

2008: A Year For Change?...

Just a few random things on my mind today. Did anyone get a chance to see my show last night? If so, did they misspell my name in the credits? I kind of figured they would.

One of my weaknesses in life is t-shirts. I love t-shirts. I can't seem to buy enough of them. My favorite kind are made by Obey and are sold at stores like The Buckle and a lot of 'skater' stores in Manhattan. They are the softest most comfortable tees one could ever don. While I don't think I will ever be able to end my addiction, I do think I need to start being a little more selective. I think part of growing up is that you have to stop wearing funny 'vintage' tees. This is unfortunate for me because I love a good laugh and a good tee, so it was kind of a match made in heaven. For example:















Hilarious right? Anyways, I think the days of me rockin' the funny tees are over. I was perusing a couple different t-shirt stores I like when I came across 2 shirts that were particularly hilarious. I pictured myself wearing them and people enjoying them with me. Unfortunately, the picture in my head depicted me as a student, a youth, a child looking for the easy laugh. And so thus came the realization that it is time for me to grow up and stop wearing such hilarious clothing. I have changed my diet and my outlook on life so why not mature a little. Though I have matured considerably since high school, I have not yet become a grown-up. Perhaps because I am not. But mostly because I still have that student mentality. I'm not saying I need to start acting like a suit, but I think a little less time looking for funny shirts to buy could be a good thing. I think I am at a point in my life where I have to stop using the phrase, "when I grow up I want to..." I should instead be figuring out ways to realistically accomplish those wants. Anyways, I'm just rambling. But seriously, these are hilarious:















Another thing I was thinking about was the huge laundry list of problems people try and medicate themselves for. I try and never take anything. When I am really sore I'll take an Aleve. But other than that, I haven't had any surgeries or excruciating pain so I have never had any need for Vicodin. I have ADHD but hated those meds so I just stopped taking them years ago. But it's astounding to me that people will take medication for anything. I was watching TV last night and saw a commercial for RLS. What's RLS you ask? Restless Leg Syndrome. Apparently if you can't sleep because you kick your legs at night, then fear not! There is now a drug you can take that will stop that restless leg once and for all! Seriously? WTF.

Here's a fitting quote from Bottle Rocket:

DIGNAN: I said to the DA, that cop who hit me must of given me CRS disease.
BOB: What's that?
DIGNAN: That's just what the DA asked. CRS is a disease where you can't remember shit.
ANTHONY: Like amnesia.
DIGNAN: Can't remember shit. CRS.


Anyways, that's all for now. Go big...

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - sorry for the flurry of recent blogs. this week was a little on the boring side. I'll give you all a day or two to catch up before I post again. Unless something crazy happens tonight... like I leave the apartment...


pps - just got back from the gym. I now weigh 164 lbs. That's 10 lbs in a little under a month. With only 4 lbs to go I need to start looking ahead to figure out how to stop losing weight but also how not to gain any. That's where I always go wrong...

FYI...

Just a reminder my show airs tonight. It's on Discovery Health. Check it out. I don't get that channel so tell me if I look fat..
Here's a link

Fit to Live
Friday, January 11 at 8pm e/p

News events put harsh realities of life in front of us every day. At any time, we could face a crisis, and accident, a natural disaster. We may not think of fitness as a survival factor in these situations. But ask yourself: do you have the basic endurance, strength, and agility to escape a disaster zone? If you had to climb 12 flights of stairs to be rescued from the roof of a burning building … could you do it? Hoist yourself out of a broken elevator … could you do it? Carry an injured co-worker to safety … could you do it?

In a radical new television program, five people will take the test that could save their lives… and take on a whole new approach to fitness. Are you Fit to Live?



-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - I don't have cable so if someone out there gets discovery health and feels a burning desire to tape it for me, I won't stop you...

What Makes Me Tick...

So aside from cutting down my chicken intake this year and getting into better shape, I also am going to try and be more open. I have been accused, and rightfully so, of being a very guarded person. I don't really share my feelings with people, mostly because people like to tell you what those feelings mean and there's nothing worse than someone telling you what you are thinking. But in an effort to be more open I am going to start letting people in on the little things in my life that make me unique, or at the very least make me who I am. It should be pretty easy. It's just basically a list of things I like and dislike and also things about me that you may not know.

The thing that got me thinking about this was my partial OCD. Though self-diagnosed, I am pretty sure I (along with many other people) have a slight case of OCD. In my case it presents itself in quirky forms that I think are necessary but others find pretty annoying. For example I have to arrange the dishwasher in an exact way every single time. Cups go in the upper left, mugs in the upper middle, bowls in the upper right, Plates go in the lower left facing right in order from largest to smallest. Pots go in the lower right and pans go on the lower right edge. Silverware is to be divided evenly between all six compartments. There cannot be more than one type of utensil in each compartment. For example if there are 6 spoons 5 knives and 4 forks, the different utensils would be divided evenly between the compartments with none containing more than one of each type of silverware.

That has become part of my routine and I don't mind doing it. It happens subconsciously as most of my habits do. I don't mind doing the dishes (which I scrub and wash completely before putting them in) but for some reason people get mad when I rearrange the dishes they claim to have done; but in my mind they aren't done right unless it's my way. Anyways, the reason I bring this up is that sometimes, like today, my mind blanks. I forget my routine and am left dumbfounded. I have a routine of how I dry off with my towel after the shower. I'll spare you the boring details but basically there is a set number of rubs per each section of my body and a specific order in which I do them. But today, as sometimes is the case, I forget what I am doing. So I end up standing there unable to dry myself because I don't know how. I try and remember my routine but my mind draws a blank and I sit there getting cold with no idea how to properly dry myself. It sucks. It is pretty much the worst actually. The only thing worse than not drying off after a shower is getting out of a warm toasty bed in the morning when it's freezing out.

Anyways, that's part of me in a nutshell. Crazy like a fox. As always, get your feet off the ground and reach for the stars. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts forever. Go big or go home. Carpe diem. Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it. Life's short, live large.

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - To keep you updated on my fitness, I started at 174 towards the middle of last month, lost 8 lbs by christmas, gained 2 back over New Years (mostly Sparks and Tilt weight) and then lost 2 after I got back. Back at 166. My goal is 160. I think that should be pretty good. It's a fine line for me from being too skinny and being too fat but I think 160-162 is a good weight for me to hover around.

Best of 2007: Music...

Even though it says best of 07 it's really the best of 07 plus the last couple months of 06. Mostly because some albums came out that I didn't get around to buying until the end of 06 and by then I had already made my best of 06 list. Anyways it's a pretty good list that seems to be dominated by chicks. Again. Not sure if this is just a period for me where I really like chick music or if this is the in between stage from listening to cool hip young music to listening to adult contemporary (which I already listen to anyways). The thing about me and music is that I really have no discernible taste. I love everything. Including country. Especially country. That's why I think this list is always a pretty good one to go by. There's something for everyone on here no matter what your taste in music is. Unless it's jazz, which sadly I don't know enough about. I love jazz and have many jazz albums but I could go out and buy a jazz record that came out 40 years ago and it would be new to me. I'm not up on my contemporary jazz. So if you only like jazz, this is not the list for you.

Also keep in mind that, much like my movie list, there are many albums I haven't heard. These are only albums that I bought. Also, like my movie list, this is ranked in order of how much I enjoy them, not necessarily how good the album was. For example, Die Hard was my number one movie of last year but I don't think it was the best acted or the best directed, just the best to me. So I am sure there are many other worthy albums out there that are better than some of these but I haven't heard them yet. Remind me in 2010 to do a recap of all the albums I missed. Also I included a song that I think you will like and should download to see if you do.

Just barely missing the cut were Alicia Keys As I Am and Tegan and Sara The Con.

Anyways, the top 10:

10 - Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight
Very solid album, not quite as good as More Adventurous but I still loved it.
Download: "15"

9 - Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
Awesome album. Almost as good as Everything All The Time, which is saying something.
Download: "The General Specific"

8 - Kanye West - Graduation
Might be my favorite Kanye album to date. He was up against some tough competition but I think it might be one of the few albums that fits any mood your in. A lot of these require a certain mind set but this is just perfect for chillin to dancing.
Download: "Everything I Am"

7 - Feist - The Reminder
Just as good if not better than last year's Open Season. She's kind of killin it right now. A lot of times I fall in love with albums and then forget them but this definitely won't be one of them.
Download: "I Feel It All"

6 - Elliott Smith - New Moon
It's the light at the end of the tunnel after From a Basement On the Hill. 2 discs of Smith at his best: depressing lyrics over less depressing rhythms.
Download: "First Timer"

5 - Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War
It's almost impossible to out perform Set Yourself On Fire, but this follow up album is the next best thing
Download: "The Beginning After the End"

4 - Katie Herzig - Weightless
I hadn't heard of her until this year so I can't compare it to her last album. But suffice to say that I will buy her first album, Watch Them Fall.
Download: "Sweeter Than This"















3 - Ben Folds - Supersunnyspeedgraphic, The LP
Not sure this qualifies exactly but I love him so I can do whatever I want. This LP is a collection of 3 previously recorded EPs that were released on the internet. So it counts because it's the first time it was in cd form. It's an amazing album but how could you expect less from Mr. Folds. Ben had this to say about how good his EPs made him feel, "often i would even glance at my watch as people talked to me, to show them i had more important things to do."
Download: "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You"



















2 - Mando Diao - Ode to Ochrasy
This is one of the albums that I didn't get until late last year but I had to put it on the list because it still blows me away a year later. Awesome follow up to Hurricane Bar and even better than this year's Never Seen the Light of Day.
Download: "The New Boy"




















1 - Taylor Swift - Taylor Swift
When I got this album last summer I thought it would just be a good, fun, poppy, country summer album. But then it turned into a good fall album. And it's turning into a good winter album. Short gray days are actually made sunny by this 16 year old chick. It's pretty surprising that this album is still relevant. I thought it might have been just a short lived Memorial day weekend cd which I bought specifically for our drive up to Montauk in the Hamptons (my life is cooler than yours). I knew we'd have to sit in traffic so I thought it would be nice to listen to, but it actually took me to Cali and back and it's still rocking out in my car.
Download: "Picture To Burn"

So there it is, this took me a very long time actually so that's all I'm gonna say.

Go big and stuff...

-M, p , z & shredder


oh ps - Hop on limewire or i-tunes or whatever and download the song I recommended and if you like it go support the artist and pick up the cd. Unless of course the artist is already uber rich and famous in which case ask me to burn it for you and I'll give it to you when I see you.ka

Best of 2007: Movies...

So at first I thought this was going to be a pretty easy list to do. I usually do a top 5 and that's that but when i went back to go over all the movies that came out last year I realized that I had gone and seen close to 40 movies in theaters. That's kind of a lot. Then I realized that I would have to do a top ten otherwise people would think I suck based on my top 5. I also realized that there was a multitude of bad movies that came out as well, so I am adding a worst of 07 as well. Keep in mind that these are only based on movies that I've seen. For example, I did not get a chance to see The Hoax, or Darfur Now or Lars and the Real Girl etc. So perhaps this isn't the most accurate list but it's pretty close anyways. It was actually really tough to get it down to just 10 so the couple extremely close calls were, I Am Legend, 3:10 to Yuma, American Gangster, Transformers and Hot Fuzz.

10 - The Last Mimzy
9 - Factory Girl
8 - 300
7 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
6 - TMNT

5 - Superbad. Definitely worth the wait for Seth and Evan as their 7 year old script finally made it to the big screen. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are two of my favorite actors (as far as comedies go) and this movie did not disappoint. If you haven't seen it, you really need to. Not quite as good of a movie as Knocked Up but definitely hilarious.

4 - Juno. Another little indie movie that's getting amazing reviews, though not quite as popular as last year's Little Miss Sunshine. Michael Cera lands another movie in my top 5 along with the kick ass Ellen Page. Jennifer Garner is actually pretty good in this movie and Jason Bateman (even when reunited with fellow Arrested Development alum Cera) actually plays a semi-serious role.




















3 - Talk to Me. Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor were perfect in this movie based on the true story of famed radio dj, Petey Greene. It was probably the best acted movie of the year but for some reason didn't generate a lot of buzz. Cheadle once again blows me away. He's climbing the charts of best actors out there (please excuse his role in the Ocean's series).

2 - Knocked Up. As if The 40 Year Old Virgin wasn't good enough, Judd Apatow killed me again with what might be the best young adult comedy since the original American Pie. I'm sure you've all seen it and know all about it. But Apatow is now officially kicking ass. He has never put out anything that I haven't been in love with since I first fell in love with him back in 1999 with Freaks and Geeks. Seth Rogen also makes his 2nd appearance on my top 5. I am sure next year will be similar what with his movies, Pineapple Express and Drillbit Taylor coming out. He wrote both of them and stars in the former along with another Freaks and Geeks alum James Franco, while my boy Owen Wilson takes the helm of the latter. There is no one that I would rather work with than this group of guys.




















1 - Live Free or Die Hard. How could this not be the best movie of the year. I saw it 3 times in the theater. Mostly because it is the first movie to actually live up to the hype of being called an action movie in a long time. It was hands down the best american action movie made this century (not counting action/adventure movies which is a different category). Bruce Willis might be one of the biggest bad asses of all time. Granted I also loved it because my boy Justin Long was in it. I feel like we're friends now ever since I ate dinner at the table next to him in Soho a few months ago. But I have been a fan of his since 2000 when he was on Ed and I'm glad to see he's doing awesome things with his career.

So there it is. The best movies of 2007. The following are the worst with number 1 being the absolute worst. Some close calls were Hitman, and Rush Hour 3.
5 - Blades of Glory - snooze fest with only one funny line the whole movie
4 - Dragon Wars - what dragons? it was about a huge evil snake. the only dragon was in the last 3 minutes.
3 - Ocean's 13 - WTF? Boring. The worst part is that no one besides Damon even tried to act. Craptacular.
2 - War - Seriously? Jason Statham and Jet Li and that's the best you can do? It should have killed.

And the worst movie of the year is....

1 - The Bourne Ultimatum - The second was good but this third one sucked balls. I can't believe they call it an action movie. It was by far the worst action movie I have ever seen in my life including those heinous Van Damme movies of the mid 90's. I'd rather watch Steven Segal do 'karate'. It's the exact same as the first two only if you took out all the cool scenes and aspects and put in a bunch of shit. I'd say it's a polished turd but that's an insult to feces.

Anyways, that's it for the moment. Best music to come soon. I'm out. Go big....

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - just saw National Treasure II last night. I love those movies. I was thinking it was a fun enjoyable popcorn flick until they set it up for a third installment. It wasn't even a question either, it was like "hey, are you ready to begin making the next sequel?" and Nick Cage was like, "Yeah. I can't wait." And then that 'funny' kid feigned sarcasm, "Oh joy. I can't wait." Even though he obviously truly can't wait since it's his only source of income. My point is that I'm jealous I can't direct it.

Speech

In case you missed Barack's speech last night, it's definitely worth a watch...



-M

People Actually Voted?...

One of the things I did not like about the Iowa Caucus was that it was in Iowa. Clearly not exactly representative of the melting pot of America. Also the amount of weight that it carries is kind of absurd when you think there there are so few people who actually live there. Regardless, it is what it is and there's nothing I can do about it. I do like the fact that candidates have to go out and prove themselves to those salt of the earth people who live there. It's actually a much better alternative to having them get glammed up and go to some super sweet 16 party for candidates.

But I was pleasantly surprised at the huge number of people that turned out last night. I mean when you have over 300,000 people turn out in a state that has less than 3,000,000 people then clearly the people are speaking. That's 10 percent of the entire population, not just the voting population. Generally I think there is something like less than 10 percent of registered voters turn out to the caucus so this number is pretty amazing. It turned out pretty well for me. Obama did better than anyone could have predicted and Edwards and Clinton are pretty much tied for 2nd. Biden and Dodd dropped out and I'm not sure exactly what happened to Richardson though he said if he didn't get his 15% to throw his support to Obama which may have helped Obama get the huge numbers he did.

It's a good sign. It was a really interesting night I think not just for politics but for American History. Obama winning that was not only inspirational but hopefully indicative of a positive change in the coming years. Hopefully this momentum carries over to NH and then to Super Tuesday but we'll see. There's still a long way to go and miles to go...His speech last night was awesome. I said it a long time ago but really, this is what I imagine it was like to be a supporter of Bobby Kennedy.

I'm out for now. Happy New Year. Bored today so I am gonna try and catch up on a lot of posting I meant to do. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - if you live outside of michigan, please vote!!! since my vote doesn't matter I need to live vicariously though you people!!! please vote, it's very very important!!! Also, someone should ask Mike Huckabee this question...