Snoozin'...

Today I went to go see a couple movies and the best part about it didn't happen on a screen. Before the first movie it was apparent that someone was sleeping. Every time there would be a break in the commercials before the previews you could hear some dude snoring loud. Very loud. Someone must have told an employee and they came and tried to wake him up. This didn't work. The dude was politely trying to wake him up by saying, "Sir. Sir. Sir, wake up." This was clearly a bad plan, so he went and got more help. Another dude came and did essentially the same thing. Then they got a third dude. This third guy came and told them to shake him, but the other guys clearly read their employee handbook and responded by saying they weren't allowed to touch anyone. So they started shouting, "Sir! Wake up!" Again, words failed. This guy actually kept snoring while yet another employee came and tried. There were four employees coming when a manager finally came and tried again. This time she shook the chair. The guy continued to sleep and actually rolled over to the side a little bit. So now there were five employees and he still wasn't awake. Then another manager, probably the highest level of authority that remained, came and shook the chair and kept shaking and shaking and shouting. The dude finally woke up surrounded by 6 people and was asked to step outside. He never came back so I assumed he was told to leave. It was ridiculous. I've never seen anything like it.

Anyway, that happened before I saw "It Might Get Loud," which was sort of a documentary where Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge got together to talk about the electric guitar. It was pretty good. Not much of a story but it was interesting watching them tell how each of them got into the guitar and see old pictures and videos of Jimmy Page way before he was in Zeppelin. Jack White is by far one of the coolest dudes on the face of the planet and this makes me want to get a poster of him so I can look at his face everyday and try and emulate everything he does. The Edge was okay, he had a couple of moments but there's only so much I can take of someone doing the same stuff over and over again. Yeah, you use effects to make your guitar sound cool, neat.

I also saw "Inglorious Basterds." The movie was ok. I wouldn't see it again. I wasn't that excited for it so it wasn't a disappointment. It was pretty much as good as I thought it would be. Tarantino isn't usually someone I get super excited about. He'll never write anything as good again as "True Romance," and he'll never direct anything again that's as good as "Kill Bill vol. 1," so I really don't have too much to get excited about. I loved Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs but, with the exception of Kill Bill, all these movie were over a decade ago. What has he done for me lately?

Pretty soon I'll do a best of the summer movie and it's not going to be anything close to what I thought it would look like back in the spring. I'm out. Go big or go home.

-M, p, z & shredder

tfln: "(904): I just realized that "Hey girl, when you gonna let me tap that?" is in iambic pentameter. I'm going to write a poem"

Star Watch...

So this is a new segment I'm adding. I'm generally pretty on point when it comes to seeing someone and being able to judge whether or not they'll make it in the biz, so I thought I'd share my insight with you so when people do blow up, I can direct your attention here and prove that I not only liked them before anyone else, but that I knew they were going to get big.

So my first official rising star is...

Kate Mara


















You may remember her from 'Shooter' or more recently, Eric's new assistant on Entourage. I thought back when Shooter came out that she would blow up but it hasn't seemed to happen yet. However, I don't know anyone else besides me who owns Shooter let alone anyone who has seen it so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. But now that she's on Entourage and everyone, including the President, watches that show I'm sure it's only a matter of moments before it happens. She's young, hot and marginally talented at the least - she's got Hollywood written all over her.

Keep your eye out for her and think of me when she hits it big. Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

18 Loads and Counting...

Not sure if anyone else has experienced the complete terriblness of having bed bugs, but I can honestly say there is nothing else like it in the world. Just to clear some things up, bed bugs aren't around because you or your apartment are dirty, they come because they are the creepiest little assholes ever. They get spread because people don't realize they have them and walk around or have people over and other people bring them back to their place and the cycle continues. Apparently there's been an outbreak in NYC this summer and it finally hit us. Luckily I've been gone for a long time and haven't been bit or bothered, but my poor roommate has been living in fear for a little over a week now. I came back from Michigan just to do my laundry (literally 18 loads and I have another 2 to do in the morning) and clean my room.

So once you have bed bugs the only thing you can do to get rid of them is follow the exterminators instructions to the letter. It includes cleaning all of your clothes and bedding, then sealing them up in plastic bags (luckily I have my car as storage and don't need to being them back into the apt), clean out all the shelves and vacuum everything, vacuum your shoes, seal up everything else and move everything three feet away from the wall. If you've seen my apartment you'd know that moving anything 3 feet from the wall puts it squarely in the middle of any room. Basically you just ram stuff around anywhere you can fit it as long as it isn't against the wall. It's kind of like moving only you have no place to put your stuff and instead of boxes, you're putting things in bags after you clean them.

I've realized two things over the course of the day: 1.) I have too many clothes, and while I look incredible in all of them, it might be time to simplify my belongings (this is what should happen but I'm not going to get rid of anything more than the 2 garbage bags full I already did) and 2.) This experience is completely unique to bed bugs. As I understand it, for other bugs, you don't really need to bag everything up and vacuum every shoe, you just need to move shit and clear out. This is the worst. And I'm very tired but if I fall asleep I'll be eaten. Eaten! So it's 2:30 and I'm awake and blogging because I'm afraid to close my eyes.

Bed Bugs are creepy. They live in wall sockets. They crawl around behind the wall until it's dark out and then come out to bite. They are heat seeking assholes which means if they are in a room where no one lives (kitchen, bathroom, my room for the last few months really) they will seek out a new room where people sleep (my roommates room). How creepy is that. It's like that scary story where the phone call is coming from upstairs, only worse because these bugs are scary as shit.

Anyway, that's what's up. The exterminator comes in like 5 1/2 hours so I'll let you know what happens after that. Lucky for me I get to help people move for the four hours I have to be out of the apartment after he bombs it out, so that should be fun. The last 24 hours have sucked and the next 12 are going to be equally shitty. I just want to burn this place down and not deal with it, but that would be way too much trouble.

Go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

oh ps - how lame do I look to people when they come to my blog and see that no one is following me on google. No one! Look to the right side of this page and sign up so I don't feel so insecure.

The Last Kennedy...

As all of you I'm sure know, Teddy Kennedy died yesterday morning on what will now surely be a national day of mourning. For some reason I have never had the affinity for JFK the way everyone else has. I've always been much more taken with Bobby and Teddy. Ted Kennedy was one of the few people that I wish I knew personally. I wish I had the opportunity to sit and talk with him and listen to him tell stories. I can only imagine the depth of everything he knows and the wisdom he had to share.

Back in 2004 I was in a small crowded room at Michigan State at a rally for John Kerry. I actually didn't like Kerry and campaigned for Edwards in the primaries, but I heard Ted Kennedy was going to be at the rally so I went. Luckily, Kerry got held up and couldn't make it so Teddy was there to give a speech. I don't know if any of you have seen him speak in person, but it doesn't surprise me that he has the reputation he has.

I had never seen anyone speak with so much conviction and determination and desire to change the world for the better until that day. If you can remember the times, it was 2 years into the 'War on Terror' and everyone was unhappy with Bush, the economy was still recovering from the stock market crash in 2001 and people wanted change, and we would have had it if Kerry wasn't such a twit. Sen. Kennedy came and floored the audience, talking about what a great nation America is and how he and his brothers made it their goal in life to do everything they could to be crusaders for the people. The only other time I can remember anything quite like that feeling was watching President Obama's acceptance of the democratic nomination. It's no wonder his brothers were so inspiring to people and it's no wonder Teddy saw so much of them in Obama.














I have had an interest in politics since the 2000 election which started out of more shock and awe at how the 2000 election played out but I didn't really care until 2004 when I wanted change and thought Sen. Edwards was the man for the job. Even then, I had no idea the power of prose and rhetoric until I heard Kennedy speak and I remember my roommate and I saying how we wished it was Kennedy running for President and not Kerry. He talked about the importance of our role as young students and the impact we could have and the choices we could make that students didn't have when he was growing up. It was very inspirational and no doubt is what fueled my interest in politics and made me actually care.
















I always wish I was alive to see the Kennedys when they were young and to imagine the potential of what they could do if they were all in power together. It's not the end of the line for the Kennedys but it's no longer the name it once was. A few years ago I picked up a book by RFK Jr. that talks about how Bush was killing the environment and I remember thinking that if he was a more prominent person in politics he would be a great champion for the environment, but he doesn't have the clout his father and uncles did and I don't see him rising to power any time.

After reading all these tribute articles and learning more about him, I realized how young I am and how far back this family goes. In my lifetime Ted Kennedy has always been a saint and I had never even heard of the "Chappaquiddick Incident" which if you know nothing about it worth reading. It's one of those stories where you realize the Kennedys really were like this country's royal family and could get away with anything.

He will be missed and his presence will be missed. I can't think of anyone so idealistic who also had so much power who is left and it will probably be a long long time before we see anything like him again. I'm pretty sure that it's only a matter of time before Obama's Health Care Reform is re-branded as the Ted Kennedy Health Care System or something along those lines.

Go big or go home. Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it.

-M, p, z & shredder