Crashing

I went out on a date with Kelly last night. We ate at Big Fish and went to see The Wedding Crashers.

****** Very Mild Spoilers Ahead ******

Leave it to Vince Vaughn to have me almost falling out of my theater seat laughing within the first two minutes he's on screen. Really, he might be the fastest talking, comedic actor in Hollywood right now. And it's funny, when you think of comedic actors Vince Vaughn isn't a name that directly pops into your head. It should though, he's been great since Swingers.

Needless to say the movie is great. Yeah, it's the same story that's been told before. Funny con-man cons lots of girls then finds one he loves, girl loves him back, guy gets caught in con, girl is hurt, girl is set to marry asshole but all ends well. Awww. Thanks Hollywood.

So yeah, the vacation might be the same, with the same destination but it's the actual voyage and the stops along the way that make this movie so great. Well, that and Vince Vaughn.

****** Very Mild Spoilers Over ******

I mentioned that Kelly and I went on a date. We've been seeing each other for close to a year and a half now and it feels like things have kinda slumped a bit. The new has worn off. We got comfortable. We don't call each other as much, though we still do so everyday. Things are different now though. There isn't that rush to see the other person. Though when I haven't seen her for a couple of days I still get that need to hug her and hold her. I probably don't express that need enough. I don't know if that works both ways.

This happens to every relationship I guess, and like anything else, it just needs a bit of polishing to get that shine back up to the surface. We've talked about it. We can't really imagine not having one another in our respective lives. We do love each other, I just think there's a lot of pressure from outside forces.

We're at that age when a lot of our friends are getting married and I think it weighs heavy on our minds. I'm in no rush and neither is she, but this pressure, it gets overwhelming sometimes. We both don't want to "waste each other's time." As if either of us could. We have fun together.

But still. There is that nagging pressure. "You're 28, you should find the person you're going to settle down with and if this person doesn't want to settle down with you then just cut ties." I don't want to be with anyone else, and as far as I know, neither does she. But like I said, we're in no rush. So where does that put us? Growing older together with no plans for the future? Living in the now?

I talked about it the other day with a third party and came to the conclusion that it's the nature of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Kelly and I both have it. O.C.D. is about having order, and categorizing things, keeping things straight and neat. Tidy. Above all else though O.C.D. is about not making mistakes. It's about planning and leaving as little room for error as possible.

So here we are, the great big unknown. This could just be one giant mistake, who knows? Should we stay and walk into it together? Or should we part ways not knowing if things will be better on the other side without one another?

I wanna let it ride, stay together, see how things turn out down the line.

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I know, I know

I gotta post a major update to the photo.bin. I can hear the villagers outside the gate lighting their torches. I promise I'll get to it this week.

So yeah, Otakon was fun, but it touched on something deeper for me than just anime and video games. It afforded me perspective.

I'm going to be 29 next year and I don't know if I have it in me to do it again. I don't want to be the 35 year-old man-boy with a gut and a bald spot still showing up to pre-register wearing an Otogi Zoshi t-shirt.

This doesn't mean I'm going to stop watching anime or playing video games, I enjoy those things. It's just, maybe I should enjoy those things in the comfort of my home, or at a friend's home. I don't think I need a convention to make me feel like I'm really part of something. This isn't the kind of place that gives your life purpose.

I'll probably go next year but maybe just for one day. To hit the dealer room and hang out with my friends. It just seems like 3 days is overkill. After a while it just becomes like everything else. Routine.

Don't read this the wrong way. I had fun. Friday was a blast but I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something intrinsically unheathy about the whole thing.

Anyways, here are some of the highlights, not in any particular order:

• Our new friend from Tokyo, Kouto.
• "I LOVE YOUR MULLET!"
• The floor headband.
• "You boys got that MAN-JAH I been hearin' bout?"
• Super.
• Monkey.
• Ball.
• OtaJon dry-humping Jengo's leg.
• Being unable to read the subtitles.
• But still being able to follow along.
• "... stuPID biTCH!"
  
• OTABURGER!
• Throwing up the horns in every picture.
• Why our anime is teh sux0rz. News at 11:00.
  
• A kid spending his entire life savings on Katamari Damacy.
• Being really, really, really, annoying.
• Finding out a stranger's secret hobby over a beer.
• The Mr. T flyer I got.
  
• The look on Kevin's face after Tentacle Hentai.
• "_____want some Miwk?"
• Snake-Eyes is fucking METAL!
• Jon buying everything from Japan that's under 5 bucks.
• "I'MMMMM COMMMMMMMMING!!!"
  
• Ctrl-Alt-Del signing posters with his sunglasses on.
• Ctrl-Alt-Del thinking he's hot shit.
• Buying some good anime.
• Laughing so hard it gives you a headache.
  

That's pretty much the recap.
See you next time space cowboy.

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...

Every now and again a song comes along that reminds you why you listen to music in the first place.

___________________________________________

You may tire of me
as our December sun is setting
'cause I’m not who I used to be.
No longer easy on the eyes
but these wrinkles masterfully disguise
the youthful boy below.
Who turned your way and saw
something he was not looking for
both a beginning and an end.
Now he lives inside
someone he does not recognize
when he catches his reflection on
accident.

On the back of a motor bike
with your arms outstretched
trying to take flight
leaving everything behind.
But even at our swiftest speed
we couldn’t break from the concrete
in the city where we still reside.
And I have learned
that even landlocked lovers yearn
for the sea like navy men.
'Cause now we say goodnight
from our own separate sides
like brothers on a hotel bed.

You may tire of me
as our December sun is setting
cause I’m not who I used to be.

___________________________________________

- Death Cab For Cutie, Brothers on a Hotel Bed, Plans, 2005



...

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Nothing quite like...

a night of Burgers from 5 Guys Burgers and Fries, anime and videogames to get you back on track. Tonight is gonna be super cool, can't wait. Thursdays are the best!

Oh and I almost forgot, D and I are getting super good at Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Co-op, and this is on Elite (no bullets) and Expert (really freaking hard) mode mind you. And yeah, about the one body that was found, D says some of those poses are just too funny to hide.

:)

UPDATE: (!!!)


And BTW, our TV p0wNZ0rZ your TV.

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Collision

The equation for panic: Mom + Car + Accident.

I heard that equation through my voicemail on Sunday. Let me first say this, everything is fine, everything except the car, but really, that was the last thing on my mind.

As cliché as it sounds now, I need to spend more time with her. I need to spend more time with all of my family.

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Standby Flight

Lately I've had way too much on my mind to even think about being here. I've got pictures to post from Jersey and other places, new bands I've been listening to, things to complain about, cool links/downloads and all other things self serving.

I'm just too tired.

I've been on this plane before. The red-eye flight from here to oblivion. Sitting in this window-seat electric chair. And every time it crashes, and every time it burns, my deep-seeded fear of flying grows.

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Martian Pushovers

When Orson Welles made his infamous radio broadcast on Halloween night in 1938 there was literally panic in the streets. You have to remember, it was a different era. Nobody really had television yet. No DVD's with special features. No Tivo. There wasn't the inlux of media bombarding you from every angle. Only radio.

So when you hear on your one and only connection to the outside world that Martians are attacking, you tend to think it's not a joke.

It's for this reason that the new film hits a wall. It never feels like it's really happening. Yes it's a movie and everyone knows that going in, but I'm the type of guy who likes to suspend belief. I go to movies to put myself in the shoes of the main character. The problem with this film is that the director keeps pulling me out of those shoes.

For a dock worker/deadbeat dad Tom Cruise sure notices a lot. He notices how the wind is moving toward the storm, how wind generally blows away from storms. He notices a lot of random things throughout the film that a dock worker, just trying to survive, probably wouldn't notice.

My other problem is there isn't any sense of overwhelming terror. The fear Welles conveyed so convincingly over the radio is gone, replaced with special effects and people evaporating. Yes the aliens wipe out our communication, but really, this doesn't have the claustrophobic feeling it should.


Spielberg tries desperately to get you involved with the characters. He's trying to humanize the situation he's setting up but he's not doing it right. You can see the seams. You can see how the director is crafting the thing. He's almost telling you what's going to happen next.

For all intents and purposes this is a road movie and even from the very beginning everything feels like it's on rails. It never once deviates from its track.

Maybe it's because the story doesn't hold up in these days of technology and biological weaponry. Because really, if aliens were going to invade and exterminate the human race they'd do it like we do it, with pesticide. Why use laser beams and thousands of giant robots when you can lay down a blanket of neurotoxin and wipe up the mess? I'll tell you why, because then we wouldn't get to see that dreamy Tom Cruise running around.

I mean, the overhead on those 15 story Martian deathbots has got to be through the roof.


It just feels like ever since Jurassic Park Spielberg has been doing the same thing over and over. He tries to go for the same moments of tension. Actually I dare anyone to not see the parallels between the two films. Especially when the Martians send a search probe into a house where Cruise is hiding. I felt like I was watching the kitchen scene with the raptors, right down to a trick involving a mirror.

I'm sorry to say but it all just seems rehashed, cheaply. But I guess if there was ever a real movie about the end of the world it would be very short and everyone would demand their money back.

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