POLARITY 174
this entry brought to you by radiohead, "everything in its right place"
THE GOOD
Christmas stuff I scored with a 5.0 megapixel digital camera, a 60 dollar gift certificate to Atomic Comics, and the Batman movie collection. Michelle made out with the Calvin and Hobbes gift set, a collection of classic books (including War of the Worlds!) , and a smoothie maker. Our roommate Matt got a 150 dollar gift certificate to Sears. And Celest, well, Celest got a whole buttload of stuff, including an Adventures of Superman DVD boxed set, volume two of the Looney Tunes boxes sets, a Batman that's about her size, a chair that's shaped like a horse, a My Little Pony, and Candyland, as well as a lot of other stuff. But the real Christmas gift was the fact that we were able to have all this stuff at all. For the past three years we've been extremely short of money during the Holidays. In 2002 the baby was born on December 4th, and Michelle's maternity leave didn't kick in until the middle of January, a week after Michelle went back to work, meaning we had to live off my pathetic 200 dollars a week check. In 2003 we were moving into the apartment in the beginning of December. And last year we were moving into the house in the beginning of the month, and had to shop at the dollar store to get Celest things. This is the first year since Celest has been alive that we've been able to even have a full-fledged Christmas (even though it lacked a Christmas tree). So even though I had to work (more on that below), it was still wonderful.
Phone Booth When I put this movie in, at no point did I expect to be fighting back tears during the cliamx. I'd heard it was good and I'd wanted to see it, but frankly, I wasn't really expecting to feel anything at all. Director Joel Schumacher is responsible for the single worst movie of all time, Batman and Robin, and that's a reputation he will deservedly never live down. So when the movie started I wasn't surprised about the pointless, whiz-bang intro or unneccesary opening narration. Despite this, Phone Booth ended up being an edge-of-your-seat thriller that proves the hype behind Colin Farrell isn't overblown-- by the movie's climax you're genuinely not sure if he's going to live or die and, deep in your gut, feel absolutely horrified for this guy, though he started off as such a jerk he was almost a cliche. My only real problem with the movie was that Keifer Sutherland's menacing voice wasn't filtered to sound like it was coming through the phone at all, so it seemed like Farrell was arguing the whole time with an extremely participatory narrator and not neccesarily someone on the other side of the phone. Still, the movie is gripping, paced perfectly, and, while not enough to erase Batman and Robin from his gravestone, definitely a triumphant step forward for Schumacher.
My Name is Earl Having only seen him in Kevin Smith movies, I wasn't that big of a fan of Jason Lee. But watching him on My Name is Earl, I'm starting to love him. The idea for the show is superb from the start: an ex-good-for-nothing hick trying to do good deeds, completely oblivious of the fact that his methods of doing these good deeds are unscrupulous, is hilarious and stands to be able to last for years, especially if the scripts remain rock solid and the timing this dead-on. I download this show, but if I was able to be home when it aired, it would be worth watching weekly.
The Random Facts of Chuck Norris I'm not sure if this popped up after Conan O'Brien's hilarious run of playing Walker, Texas Ranger clips, or got popular after it, but I've been hearing about Chuck Norris everywhere on the Internet, and seen lots of links to this. Some of this shit is very, very clever.
My Get Behind Me Satan promo poster The local record store gave it to me cuz I rock. The coolest part was lugging this gigantic piece of posterboard to work with me because I picked it up during my lunch break and staring at Meg's face all day.
THE BAD
Not being paid extra for Christmas So get this: MCI, where I work, has paid holidays. If you have a holiday off, you get paid time and a half. If you do work, you get paid double time and a half. Sounds pretty straight-forward, right? Lots of companies do this. Well, MCI, for some sadistic reason, doesn't recognize Christmas if it falls on a weekend, and instead recognizes it the following Monday, in this case, the 26th. The problem is, most people that work Sundays have Monday off-- I think there are only 5 or 6 people that work Sunday and Monday in a row. So here's the bottom line: for working Christmas, I got regular pay. For not working Monday, I get time and a half. What doesn't make sense about this is that there were maybe 30 people working Christmas day, and about 60 people working Monday, so MCI will spend a lot more on the 60 people making double time and a half just for working the 26th, which is a day that means nothing to anyone, than if they'd paid the 30 of us double time and a half for working the 25th, the day called Christmas, which happens to mean a lot to a lot of people! It's like MCI is trying to spite itself just to fuck us over. So why come in at all? Why not just call out? Because if you call out on your last day worked before a paid holiday, you don't get paid your time and a half! So basically, I worked Christmas for absolutely no fucking reason at all!
SPIN naming M.I.A.'s Arular #2 album of the year I have a very critical mind and tend, in general, to agree with critics when it comes to rock music. At the end of the year I have a pretty good idea as to what will make the year-end lists and usually the only surprises or things I disagree with are the order they're in. This year was no exception: I'm cool with my personal favorite, Sleater-Kinney's The Woods, not being #1, but number 35? Death Cab for Cutie's Plans better than The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan? Bloc Party's Silent Alarm better than Beck's Guero? I was really disappointed Lullabies to Paralyze being completely ignored (despite Queens of the Stone Age being a steady favorite of SPIN's, and "Little Siste r" being named one of the best songs of the year), but the real shocker/disappointment was M.I.A.'s Arular being named #2. Number 2? Listen, it was a fun album that was deinitely enjoyable, but number 2?? What the fuck?
They Sold Their Souls to Rock And Roll There's a whopping 10 hour DVD made by some lunatic, hysterical Christian nutcases on musicians that have sold their souls to rock and roll, and they want you to spend 40 dollars on it to see the real truth on some of today's most popular secular rock acts. Which is fine, I mean, they've been saying this for 40 fucking years, it's not really a surprise that they're still afraid of the same boogeymen they've always been afraid of; religious people aren't exactly the type to, you know, get over it and move on with their lives. But what's really amusing is that the artists they have expose's on are bands like U2 and Creed. These people don't even want you listening to U2 for fear that you'll lose your soul! What the fuck does that leave us, besides Tammy Wynette?
The ROKR, the new iTunes MP3 phone I'm not a fan of all-in-one devices, because they tend to cost more and don't perform as well as stand-alone devices, and, worse, when you happen to lose one or have it stolen, you've lost all of them, or even if one function stops working, it becomes useless; the new Motorola iTunes phone, the ROKR, especially so. You can only put 100 songs on your phone-- even if you have memory available. Example: have 20 megs left? You can't fit that 101st song. All this for a device that is more expensive than an Ipod Nano, which holds about 10 times more music. What's the point?
Jimmy Robinson flash animation I wanted to point out this flash animation I found on Newgrounds. It's one of the most professionally done, gorgeous animations I've ever seen on the web, and I want to be able to recommend it with a dropped jaw. The problem is, the animator was commissioned by Opie and Anthony, two moronic shock-jocks that are now on Sirius Radio with Howard Stern, to do this animation based on some comedian named Jim Norton's humor. So it's absolutely gorgeous, but also features such groan-worthy bullshit as a boy giving another boy a blowjob, and a girl shitting on his chest (called the "Cleveland Steamer"), all set to the White Stripe's "Offend in Every Way". What a total waste of animating talent.
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with love from CRS @ 7:44 PM
Monday, December 26, 2005
THE GOOD
Christmas stuff I scored with a 5.0 megapixel digital camera, a 60 dollar gift certificate to Atomic Comics, and the Batman movie collection. Michelle made out with the Calvin and Hobbes gift set, a collection of classic books (including War of the Worlds!) , and a smoothie maker. Our roommate Matt got a 150 dollar gift certificate to Sears. And Celest, well, Celest got a whole buttload of stuff, including an Adventures of Superman DVD boxed set, volume two of the Looney Tunes boxes sets, a Batman that's about her size, a chair that's shaped like a horse, a My Little Pony, and Candyland, as well as a lot of other stuff. But the real Christmas gift was the fact that we were able to have all this stuff at all. For the past three years we've been extremely short of money during the Holidays. In 2002 the baby was born on December 4th, and Michelle's maternity leave didn't kick in until the middle of January, a week after Michelle went back to work, meaning we had to live off my pathetic 200 dollars a week check. In 2003 we were moving into the apartment in the beginning of December. And last year we were moving into the house in the beginning of the month, and had to shop at the dollar store to get Celest things. This is the first year since Celest has been alive that we've been able to even have a full-fledged Christmas (even though it lacked a Christmas tree). So even though I had to work (more on that below), it was still wonderful.
Phone Booth When I put this movie in, at no point did I expect to be fighting back tears during the cliamx. I'd heard it was good and I'd wanted to see it, but frankly, I wasn't really expecting to feel anything at all. Director Joel Schumacher is responsible for the single worst movie of all time, Batman and Robin, and that's a reputation he will deservedly never live down. So when the movie started I wasn't surprised about the pointless, whiz-bang intro or unneccesary opening narration. Despite this, Phone Booth ended up being an edge-of-your-seat thriller that proves the hype behind Colin Farrell isn't overblown-- by the movie's climax you're genuinely not sure if he's going to live or die and, deep in your gut, feel absolutely horrified for this guy, though he started off as such a jerk he was almost a cliche. My only real problem with the movie was that Keifer Sutherland's menacing voice wasn't filtered to sound like it was coming through the phone at all, so it seemed like Farrell was arguing the whole time with an extremely participatory narrator and not neccesarily someone on the other side of the phone. Still, the movie is gripping, paced perfectly, and, while not enough to erase Batman and Robin from his gravestone, definitely a triumphant step forward for Schumacher.
My Name is Earl Having only seen him in Kevin Smith movies, I wasn't that big of a fan of Jason Lee. But watching him on My Name is Earl, I'm starting to love him. The idea for the show is superb from the start: an ex-good-for-nothing hick trying to do good deeds, completely oblivious of the fact that his methods of doing these good deeds are unscrupulous, is hilarious and stands to be able to last for years, especially if the scripts remain rock solid and the timing this dead-on. I download this show, but if I was able to be home when it aired, it would be worth watching weekly.
The Random Facts of Chuck Norris I'm not sure if this popped up after Conan O'Brien's hilarious run of playing Walker, Texas Ranger clips, or got popular after it, but I've been hearing about Chuck Norris everywhere on the Internet, and seen lots of links to this. Some of this shit is very, very clever.
My Get Behind Me Satan promo poster The local record store gave it to me cuz I rock. The coolest part was lugging this gigantic piece of posterboard to work with me because I picked it up during my lunch break and staring at Meg's face all day.
THE BAD
Not being paid extra for Christmas So get this: MCI, where I work, has paid holidays. If you have a holiday off, you get paid time and a half. If you do work, you get paid double time and a half. Sounds pretty straight-forward, right? Lots of companies do this. Well, MCI, for some sadistic reason, doesn't recognize Christmas if it falls on a weekend, and instead recognizes it the following Monday, in this case, the 26th. The problem is, most people that work Sundays have Monday off-- I think there are only 5 or 6 people that work Sunday and Monday in a row. So here's the bottom line: for working Christmas, I got regular pay. For not working Monday, I get time and a half. What doesn't make sense about this is that there were maybe 30 people working Christmas day, and about 60 people working Monday, so MCI will spend a lot more on the 60 people making double time and a half just for working the 26th, which is a day that means nothing to anyone, than if they'd paid the 30 of us double time and a half for working the 25th, the day called Christmas, which happens to mean a lot to a lot of people! It's like MCI is trying to spite itself just to fuck us over. So why come in at all? Why not just call out? Because if you call out on your last day worked before a paid holiday, you don't get paid your time and a half! So basically, I worked Christmas for absolutely no fucking reason at all!
SPIN naming M.I.A.'s Arular #2 album of the year I have a very critical mind and tend, in general, to agree with critics when it comes to rock music. At the end of the year I have a pretty good idea as to what will make the year-end lists and usually the only surprises or things I disagree with are the order they're in. This year was no exception: I'm cool with my personal favorite, Sleater-Kinney's The Woods, not being #1, but number 35? Death Cab for Cutie's Plans better than The White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan? Bloc Party's Silent Alarm better than Beck's Guero? I was really disappointed Lullabies to Paralyze being completely ignored (despite Queens of the Stone Age being a steady favorite of SPIN's, and "Little Siste r" being named one of the best songs of the year), but the real shocker/disappointment was M.I.A.'s Arular being named #2. Number 2? Listen, it was a fun album that was deinitely enjoyable, but number 2?? What the fuck?
They Sold Their Souls to Rock And Roll There's a whopping 10 hour DVD made by some lunatic, hysterical Christian nutcases on musicians that have sold their souls to rock and roll, and they want you to spend 40 dollars on it to see the real truth on some of today's most popular secular rock acts. Which is fine, I mean, they've been saying this for 40 fucking years, it's not really a surprise that they're still afraid of the same boogeymen they've always been afraid of; religious people aren't exactly the type to, you know, get over it and move on with their lives. But what's really amusing is that the artists they have expose's on are bands like U2 and Creed. These people don't even want you listening to U2 for fear that you'll lose your soul! What the fuck does that leave us, besides Tammy Wynette?
The ROKR, the new iTunes MP3 phone I'm not a fan of all-in-one devices, because they tend to cost more and don't perform as well as stand-alone devices, and, worse, when you happen to lose one or have it stolen, you've lost all of them, or even if one function stops working, it becomes useless; the new Motorola iTunes phone, the ROKR, especially so. You can only put 100 songs on your phone-- even if you have memory available. Example: have 20 megs left? You can't fit that 101st song. All this for a device that is more expensive than an Ipod Nano, which holds about 10 times more music. What's the point?
Jimmy Robinson flash animation I wanted to point out this flash animation I found on Newgrounds. It's one of the most professionally done, gorgeous animations I've ever seen on the web, and I want to be able to recommend it with a dropped jaw. The problem is, the animator was commissioned by Opie and Anthony, two moronic shock-jocks that are now on Sirius Radio with Howard Stern, to do this animation based on some comedian named Jim Norton's humor. So it's absolutely gorgeous, but also features such groan-worthy bullshit as a boy giving another boy a blowjob, and a girl shitting on his chest (called the "Cleveland Steamer"), all set to the White Stripe's "Offend in Every Way". What a total waste of animating talent.
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