Kate Nash and Passion...

I finally got around to listening to Kate Nash's new album and while it's a giant departure from her earlier stuff, it's pretty great. Half the album is skippable, a few songs are alright but the others are completely repeatable. Like, put this shit on repeat because it's awesome.

She has this song, We Get On, from an old album which is up there in my favorites of all time. It's one of those songs that puts you directly in the narrative and crushes you exactly how she intended to. It's kind of amazing actually. I've only heard a live version and I'd like to keep it that way. It was one of those accidental downloads. It was supposed to be the album version but it wasn't. I don't want to look for it on youtube because I'm afraid of coming across covers or other versions that don't live up to it and I don't want to ruin it.

My favorite song of the new album is called Sister, and it's great.




What strikes me about her, and I guess music/artists in general, is the passion. There's a point in most of my days where I'm jealous/angry at everyone who gets to do exactly what they love all the time. For most people like myself, we have jobs that moderately fulfill us, and find the time outside of work to follow our passions.

Not that I didn't give it a full-time go. I tried the bohemian thing where I had random jobs to pay rent and tried to be a full time writer/director/slacker/whatever, but that wasn't for me. I think for most people it's about balancing dreams, real life and desires. I always wanted a house and pets and a family and wasn't willing to give up those dreams for one that was far less attainable and probably not as rewarding. But the grass is always greener. And even though she probably hates a lot of the crap she has to do, listening to Sister makes me wish I was back in high school, playing guitar in our high school band at some battle of the bands, or sitting on my ikea bed/couch in a bed bug infested building in Washington Heights working on a screenplay.

Passion has its ebbs and flows and unfortunately, writer's block only subsides for short periods. My point is this: I think I need to get better at letting those periods play out and when the writing starts happening in my head, it needs to translate to a piece of paper. Or as Mekhi Phifer would put it, 'do whatever the fuck you wanna do' — just so long as you do it.

I'm out. I'll see ya when I see ya.

-M

Remember that time...

Remember back when I used to blog? Neither do I, though this list of archives to the right is pretty impressive. Our friend Rusted Jesus, has recently gone on what can only be described in Crocodile Dundee terms as a walkabout. He's also blogging again and while he's a much better writer than I am, it reminded me that I do like to put finger to key when I'm not at work or toiling away on a never-to-be-finished writing project.

So here I am. A year and a half removed from my last post, which was just a youtube clip. What have I been doing? Well, I turned 30 (last year), I got married (last month) and I got busy / lazy (always).

Spending your day writing kind of makes you not want to blog when you get home. But I've realized that I need to set some writing goals otherwise I will never finish any of my writing projects. And as much as I'd like to head to the woods to live deliberately, I've got a mortgage and a wife and 4 cats that I would miss entirely too much.

So here I am, returning to the world from whence I came. About the only thing that hasn't changed is that I'm sure you'll all still be reading this at work so I'll try and keep things interesting.

Walt Whitman (or as I refer to him when I'm angry: Walter!) once said, "The secret of it all, is to write in the gush, the throb, the flood, of the moment — to put things down without deliberation — without worrying about their style — without waiting for a fit time or place." I'm not sure about with 'without deliberation' part since I'm not as good as he was, but he got the gist of it right.

I'm out. I'll see ya when I see ya.

-M

Moonrise Kingdom...

Wes Anderson's latest is what it takes me to blog these days. As most of you know, he and Owen Wilson are responsible for me going to film school and, ultimately, ending up as a writer - such as it is. His new trailer leaves me puzzled about where it's headed, especially after reading so much about it over the last year. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy.



I say this a lot, but I really will blog soon. I have my 'best of' lists to do and I haven't missed those since I started them.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

#OWS...

Looks like Occupy Wall Street has lost some steam. Maybe it's because people got a look at Occupy Ann Arbor. I was in town over thanksgiving and it was pretty pathetic. In fact, I think it's just a plce where homeless people are trying to get free stuff. Instead of signs that say "we are the 99%," they literally have a sign that says, "we need tents, money and socks." No lie. Occupy a different park.

Anyway, it's hard to blog when you could be playing Halo instead.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

The Vet and n00b...

It clearly takes something awesome for me to post these days. So here it is. One of my favorite video game commercials of all time.



As always, go big. I'd say 'I'm back to blog more' but that's probably not gonna happen. I'm a lazy blogger this year. I've finally come to accept it.

-M, p, z & shredder

Ragnarok...

Just thought I'd share some comments from an article I was reading because they are hilarious. To preface this story, I am a nerd and like to read about comic book movies and video games and such long before they come out to see if my favorite characters will be in them, however these people take everything to complete uber nerddom. This happened to be an article about a possible new director for the sequel to Thor. A question was posted in the comments about who should be in the next movie to which someone spouted off about a thousand names. This is what followed:

# Loki’s Left Horn
Thu 09/22/11 1:02 PM
Since when is “Ragnarok” a CHARACTER? Would like to see Surtur – the giant sized fire giant version – show up in one of the sequels though, with his sword Twilight attempting to set fire to the cosmos. Hela as queen of the underworld is a good potential villain choice too.

* coolman
Thu 09/22/11 1:17 PM

Ragnarok is Thors clone from Civil War stupid!

# fnord
Thu 09/22/11 1:05 PM

STUPID CHOICE!!!
Reply

* Buttcheek
Thu 09/22/11 1:08 PM

Stupid fnord. Must be a Thunderstrike fan…

I know things take a turn for the worst when even I have no clue what people are talking about. I've had so much to say lately and have just been too lazy to post. I'll try and fix that, what with this being my last year in my 20's. The countdown to 30 has begun. 51 weeks. I'm just assuming my life will implode.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

The Big House...

This may come off as UM bashing, but I can assure you, college football for me is all about rooting for State and not really caring about what happens to anyone else. But I think it's noteworthy to mention that UM playing a game under lights shouldn't be garnering this much attention. They're lights people. They were invented a very long time ago and teams across all sports have been playing night games for over a hundred years. According to wikipedia, "The first night football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892 between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary." 1892?!!! That was 119 years ago!! Maybe it's just because ESPN is a shitty network and the only thing they can report on is a game being played under artificial light and it really isn't a big deal at all, but they've got a lot of people convinced.

The question should really be, why did it take so long for one of the greatest venues in all of sports to get lights?

If I were a UM fan, I'd be celebrating. I'd be pumped about a night game because I've attended a few night games at Spartan Stadium, and the amount of alcohol you can drink before a 7:30pm game seemingly increases exponentially every hour after 12. But aside from UM fans who will be at the game, is it really worthy of College Gameday (another grossly overrated waste of time) to be there?

To be fair, the only teams I feel that actually deserve any national recognition are Alabama (shit they're good - Roll Tide!), OU, Boise St, LSU and Oregon. These teams are way better than any other team in college football and it amazes me that anyone would care about two unranked teams playing a night game.

Anyway, maybe I'm just mad at ESPN for their terrible US Open coverage, but the madness has got to stop. And why doesn't anyone else HATE Andy Murray. That kid whines more than anyone I've ever seen.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Living Together Observations: Part 3...

Just to be clear, in case Nebraska ever uses the internet, I enjoy living with my significant other, these are just some thoughts that I think other guys feel and can relate to.

Decorating. I have refrained from covering the walls in Halo posters and Detroit sports team paraphernalia, but it's taking an absurdly long time to figure out where our things do go. For me decorating is all about feel. If I think a picture/painting/whatever looks good in a certain spot, I put it there. But for her, it needs to no only look good in the spot, but look good in conjunction with everything else in the room and fit the theme of the room. Most of you haven't been to our apartment, but if you had, you wouldn't know that any room had a theme. But they do. I guess.

Football. This applies to sports in general, but it's becoming evident that my days are numbered. Nebraska has always been exceptional at not just letting me watch sports, but watching with me (though that often means her taking a nap). Now that we live together, I fear that those days are over or approaching an end. This all relates back to a point I mentioned earlier: there's always shit to do. When it comes to college football, the only game I care about watching is the State game. I;ll watch other games, but I'd rather do other things. But on Sunday, it's Lions and fantasy day all day. I assume that this is going to result in direct conflict with dishes, cleaning, spending quality time with each other and a seemingly endless list of things to do. Let's pray it never changes. She wanted to salsa dance on Sunday and when I reminded her football kicks off the same day, she was silent though never mentioned it again. Storm's coming.

I'm out. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Living Together Observations: Part 2...

My friend, Bobtail, said she had a good time reading my first installment, so before I head out for the weekend here's part II of my observations of living with your significant other.

1: You need two TVs. You know what is a really terrible show (in my opinion, though I have since learned not to express that opinion out loud)? Dance Moms. Yup. That exists. Last week I busied myself with laundry, dinner and trimming my nose hair. The only thing to get me away from it in the future will be the addition of another TV. You might say, "read a book. Aren't you a writer and avid reader?" Seems reasonable, but I need something more active to get my mind off the fact that the show exists.

2: Dinner is more complicated. We ate dinner together most nights before we moved in, but usually she'd come over and eat whatever I was making. Now we have to decide ahead of time what we both want to eat. Not a huge problem yet, but I can see it being an issue when I want wings and she wants a burger. Rocky times ahead, people.

3: Bed time. I'm used to going to bed when I feel like it and generally it's the same time as her. Sometimes, like last night's Halo time, I want to stay up a little later. Which means, I have to do my killing quietly, tip-toe around (which always leads to stepping on a cat toy), and I can't cuss at the screen. This isn't so bad. The worst part is when you get in bed and all you've got is the edge. The edge! I hate the edge, but I swear, every time I get in bed after her, I'm relegated to sleeping on the edge trying to avoid her outstretched arms and legs.

That's all for now. It's almost 5 and I'm about to punch out (figuratively speaking since we don't have a time clock, though aren't all clocks 'time clocks'?).

Clear eyes, full hearts. Party at my place tomorrow. Be there or be square.

-M, p, z & shredder

I'm Not the Only One...

Whenever the topic of favorite places in the world or country come up, I've long held the belief that I need not stray far from home to find mine. The combined area of Sleeping Bear Dunes, Traverse City, Charlevoix and Petosky (all right next to each other) has been my favorite location I've ever been since I first ventured up north.



As you've probably seen around the many Michiganders posting it on their fb pages, I'm not alone. Apparently tens of thousands of people voted and Sleeping Bear Dunes was crowned the most beautiful place in America. While not news to me, it's nice that it's getting some national recognition, especially for a state that most people think of as looking like downtown Detroit in the first Robocop.

There's really nothing that makes me happier than being up there out on Lake Michigan. If you haven't been, make the trip, it's worth it.

Clear eyes, full hearts.

-M, p, z & shredder

Living Together Observations: Part 1...

You may ask, "where the f*&^ have you been swami-says?" Well I'll tell you. I don't usually blog about relationships and the like but changes have come about that I feel compelled to blog about.

A few weeks ago, Nebraska (my gf) and I moved in together. That's right, kids. It's kind of like going to Rivindale, only if Frodo didn't have any friends with him. It's something you can't really get a grasp on unless you do it. It's been about 3 weeks or so now and here are my first observations:

1: There's an endless amount of things to do. When we moved in I naturally assumed the time it took to clean, do dishes, laundry etc. would decrease by half. Instead, not only has it not decreased but it's seemingly increased. There is always something that needs to be done. It doesn't make sense. I blame the smaller-than-normal dishwasher, but still, it can't count for everything.

2: Toilet paper vanishes. I'm used to living by myself and a roll will last me a very very long time. I'm talking about a month more or less. Living with a girl changes that. I think we're averaging about 2 rolls a week. A week! No wonder girls by that one-ply crap. It's just not reasonable to by the expensive stuff. Might need to get another dispenser for myself because I seriously can't live without my Charmin Ultra.

3: Master Chief and I are finding it hard to hang out. I was under the impression that my routine of coming home from work and playing Halo all night would remain intact. It hasn't. I didn't even get to hook up my Xbox until last week. Last night, literally as soon as I turned it on, she told me she wanted to watch Jersey Shore (which I love but was not ready to do that) so we did. I had to wait until she went to bed to play.

Anyway, there's also good things about it. For example, if she's going to the store I can ask her to pick me up some stuff too. There's other good things but they're pretty lame so we wont talk about them here.

Clear eyes, full hearts.

-M, p, z & shredder

Your Boy Is Back...

And for the umpteenth time, I've come back from hiatus. You know what I realized? Working full time is not conducive to having a blog. Especially when your job is writing. The last thing I want to do when I get home is open the computer I use for 8 or 9 hours a day and write more.

So instead, I'll write while I'm at work. Lunch breaks are more fun when you're not working anyway.

You know what's cool? Being a writer. I wouldn't have thought it growing up, but I'll be damned if David Duchovny didn't make it seem like the most noble, bad-ass profession the world has ever seen. While I'm no Hank Moody, I do have the luxury of being able to tell people that I'm a writer, though to be fair, I'm pretty sure my job is one that Hank Moody would rather set himself on fire than do, but you can't win 'em all.



I'm gonna post 4 times today. Watch me. Go big (I think I was gonna start saying something new but I forgot what. I'll have to go through the archives and see).

-M, p, z & shredder

Friday Night Lights...

As many of you know, FNL has long been one of my favorite shows. A couple years ago, when it was teetering on the cusp of cancellation, I was convinced it was gone but was elated when NBC and Direct TV made a deal to keep it going for two more seasons. Now, sadly, those two seasons are over and so is one of the best dramas I've ever seen.

Rarely does a drama have the ability to pace itself without having disaster episodes when a train crashes and everyone is crying. Instead, each character had a wonderful story arc and the writers took time developing these people that I watch on the edge of my seat every week.

It further frustrates me that shows like Two and a Half Men, with or without Charlie Sheen, is still on the air after 8 or 9 seasons or whatever it is. I used to think America was crazy. But then I realized that there are some people that just haven't been exposed to really good comedy. If you watched Family Matters and Step by Step, then moved on to Will and Grace, the natural progression would be to enjoy shows like Two and a Half Men. Some people never watched Fresh Prince or Arrested Development or The Cosby Show. They just don't know that TV can be great.

I'm glad FNL went out being true to the show that it was since the first episode. It's really one of the best shows around and if you've never seen it, start with season 1 and watch it everyday for the next couple months. Your life will be better.





'Go big' will heretofore be replaced with Clear eyes, full hearts. It's been my fantasy football name for a few years but really means the same thing and is a better way to say it.


-M, p, z & shredder

Axe...

Don't usually blog about ads but this is pretty awesome work. I don't wear Axe and since I'm not a teenager, I probably never will, but I like their ads. Anyway, I think I realized my dream job is to be a freelance commercial writer. Is that a thing? If not, it's going to be my mission to make it my thing.



Go big. I know I will.

-M, p, z & shredder

Go the F*ck to Sleep...

You know what the secret to life is? Take all those dumb ideas or hilarious ideas you have and make them a reality. One of them is bound to make you a millionaire. This is how I always fake talk to my future kids, and this guy made a book out of it. Here's Samuel L. Jackson doing what he does best.



Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Curse You, Netflix...

I love Netflix. But they're trying to kill me and put me out of a home. I used to have the three DVDs at a time back when streaming was just a few crappy movies. That was only 14 bucks a month. Then they changed all the prices and I paid 16 for the same service only a little more streaming. Then they upped the fees again when streaming got even bigger and I had to downgrade to 2 movies out at a time and unlimited streaming for the same price. Now they're raising the price again. Again!

I either have to get 1 movie and unlimited streaming for the same price I'm paying now, or keep my same plan and pay 20. Netflix used to be a viable solution to not having cable. I'm happy without cable and have been for 2 years. But if I'm gonna be paying 20 a month plus 8 for hulu plus, in addition to 40 for internet, I'm already at 0ver 70 after taxes. I should ditch Netflix and Hulu Plus because what's another 30 for cable plus HBO and On Demand?

I love movies. I still try and watch a movie every day and I enjoy that more than TV. But why is Netflix, who I generally swear by, making it so hard?! Maybe if they streamed all the movies in my queue of 480 dvds I could be happy about this. But less than 20 of them are available for instant view. Maybe if they had all the shows Hulu has, I'd be elated. But they don't. Basically I'm just getting f*cked and there's nothing I can do about it but vent to you.

Man, between bitching about the price of gas and how good things used to be before all this technology and all these assh*le teenagers acting crazy in the streets, I'd swear I was 90 years old.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Your Boy Is Back...

Dang! It's been a long time. Haven't posted since I started my internship which is both crazy, but also a pretty adequate meter of how busy I've been. I've actually had a lot to post on but somehow keep forgetting what I was going to say by the time I got home so I figured I'd squeeze in a quick post at work.

Work rules. I was as disappointed as you could possibly be about not getting a full-time job without ever actually applying for one, which is still somewhat considerable. But this internship is working out better than I could have hoped or imagined. My fingers are crossed it turns in to a full-time gig in 6 weeks when it's over but for now, I'm just happy with how it's going.

I just closed a small chapter in my life. I have been on this kick lately of unsubscribing from email lists. I was sick of waking up to 30 emails, none of which were spam. I'm still on a few lists but this last one was the only one that made me sit back and think. I unsubscribed from two film production job posting sites. Basically they would just email me when a job on a film or TV show would be available. I guess I realized that that will never be something I am going to do again.

Not that I'm not still working on screenplays and such, but I don't ever want to work on a production again unless it's as a writer, director or producer. So you can get your own damn coffee (not that I ever actually got anyone coffee). So to all my fellow production folks, peace out.

And I'm out. I'll be normal again soon. I swear. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Halo 4: Awakening...

Oh my god ohmygodohmygodohmygodomygod. OMG. O. M. G. Finally. Life is still worth living.

When it Rains...

First off, yesterday was my folks 36th anniversary. Damn dude! For realz?! That's a long time. I will say that my dad couldn't function without my mom and my mom's head would literally explode if she couldn't nag my dad.

Now let's talk about me. So that interview on Tuesday went well. I'm going back in tomorrow. To meet more people. Last Thursday I met 6 people who work there. Then Tuesday met another. Then tomorrow I'm gonna meet around 10 people. This field is awesome because of two things: one) I can/will drink/play games while I work and two) it's all about hanging out with people and making friends and if there's a few things I'm good at it's drinking, playing, hanging out and making friends.

As if I wasn't happy enough about this interview, I've got another one next week and to complicate things a little, I was offered an internship this morning that starts Monday and I need to decide on by tomorrow afternoon.

...it pours.

I'll let you know how it goes but til then, keep your ears to the grindstone for me. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

Cute to Death...

So this might be the cutest video ever. I'm talkin cuter than sneezing Panda baby.



I can't believe how many hits this thing has. People are crazy.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder