The Sex-O-Rama Blog Entry

I watched Kinsey tonight at ISU’s Bengal Theatre. Thus, the sex reference. What a great movie! I should have known I’d be moved by the film, since Bill Condon was behind it, but I didn’t know I’d be moved that much. (For those unversed in Bill Condon’s work, I highly recommend watching Gods and Monsters. Beautiful.)

Perhaps the problem is that I’ve grown up in an area that still condemns Kinsey. I’m sure that the older generation in this highly religiously oppressed area would love to blame all of modern society on the man. After all, I have heard him blamed for the sexual revolution, proliferation of VD in America, and once even for the spread of homosexuality. Weird, yes, I know. But, the truth is, we probably owe a great deal to the man for helping to answer many myths about sexuality in America. I mean, come on! These people thought they’d become infertile if they had oral sex before the man came along!

Sex is such a funny thing. Not ha-ha funny...well, unless maybe you have a clown fetish...but odd funny. It’s amazing how such a small aspect of our lives could control so much of what we think, say, and do. It dictates who we are in a manner of ways, how we behave, and even where we fit in with society. When you lost your virginity, if you’re still a virgin, if you’ve had a number of partners, or just one...it seems to matter so much for some reason. I’m just amazed that who we find attractive, and desire to have sex with, has so many implications on us. My friend T. admitted to me this afternoon, quite abashed, that he prefers the company of “large” women. I don’t care. I don’t think any less of him, and why should I? Admittedly, I’m incredibly shallow, but oddly enough, not in this area. And no, this doesn’t mean I endorse NAMBLA, or other creepy groups. They need to be consenting adults. Consenting.....Adults....that’s the key.

Anyway, back to the movie. There were some really poignant parts of the film. When Kinsey’s talking with his father at one point, it made me want to cry. Here are two men that don’t really like each other, but they’re finally opening up to each other. Perhaps it struck too close to home. My dad and I don’t hate each other. In fact, we get along rather well. The problem is, we just don’t connect on any level of depth. We’re masters of shallow conversation, and I wish it wasn’t so. I don’t really know anything about my dad. I realize this every time I want to buy him a gift. I can’t think of anything, because I don’t know him. Errr...off track again. Sorry. Towards the end of the film, Lynn Redgrave stops by to give a brief performance that should make that lump of emotion appear in your throat. If it doesn’t, you’re a real heartless bastard. All I can hope is that Kinsey really got to hear words like that uttered to him.

All in all, I thought this was a beautiful film. It’s a serious topic, for adults (got that, stupid immature bitches talking, giggling, and guffawing through the whole movie behind me?) So, with that said, I release you to go see the movie, or surf for internet porn, if you’d rather.

Hey Ebert! Here’s What You Can Do With That Thumb!

Well, seeing as how I faked sick in order to sit around and watch movies, I thought I should at least make something productive of that time and write mini reviews for what I watched.

First, I caught up on Wonderfalls. This is a wonderful series that Fox (bastards) pulled after only showing four of the funnies episodes of television you’ll ever see. Crash commented a while ago that the first four weren’t even the funniest, and he wasn’t kidding. I’ve never seen anything as imaginative as this show, and it just makes it more depressing that they only made 13 episodes. However, I’ll continue to watch them through the modern magic of DVD, and you should too.

Second, I watched Being Julia. After watching this, I have no doubts about why the Academy nominated Annette Bening for best actress. I thought she could never top her performance in American Beauty, but this is special. She shows such a range of emotion and character, that you can’t help but fall in love with this woman. If I ever had the opportunity to make a movie, I’d want this amazing woman as a lead actress.

Next, I watched Closer. This is the one movie above all else I wanted to see this last fall, so of course it was the one that never played where I live. Three of the actors are tops on my list, with the exception of Natalie Portman at the time. Now, after seeing this piece, and her work on Garden State, I’m considering her a top-notch actress. Now, if only she’d ditch that Star Wars drivel, because she looks almost as bored as I do watching that crap. Anyway, back to the movie. I’m still not sure what I thought of it. I’ve had 24 hours to process it, but I still can’t make up my mind. Was it a morality play? Because I really wasn’t getting it, if it was. It was good, it was weird, it was sad, it was brutally honest, it was completely fake. I’m conflicted. See it, and make up your own mind. It’s definitely worth renting.

Finally, I watched Close Your Eyes, a pseudo-horror thriller. For some reason, it reminded me of that fantastic ballerina/witch movie Susperia, except that CYE wasn’t all that great. The Eastern European dude from ER was on it. It wasn’t a bad movie, it just wasn’t all that great. Worth renting if you’re bored, and it only costs a buck to rent, like how I found it. Oh, and Paddy Constadine was in it, but he played this creepy occult and toy soldier obsessed nerd. Uh...you’d have to see it to have it explained.

So, that’s what I’ve done this week. Productive, no?

No Really....I'm Sick.

I faked sick today. I didn't feel good, but I my health was really good enough that I could have gone to school and work today if I really wanted to. Fact is, I didn't want to go. I had no desire to learn Spanish, or put up with all of the BS in my TV Production class. No offense Tom, but you're a crap teacher. Part of me actually hopes you happen across this too, because you really need to know. You suck...and I'm tired of teaching your classes for you.

So, instead of going to class/work, I sat around watching DVDs all day long. I finally finished my sister's copy of Wonderfalls. Crash is right, it really is a fantastic show! I highly recommend you get your paws on a copy of this tv show that Fox cancelled for no good reason. Bastards at FOX!! You're killing me!

I also watched Closer today. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I'll have to process it. Was it a morality play? I didn't get it, if it was.

Laters.

Missing P-Town

When I was living in Portland, it never felt like home. It was nice, and I enjoyed my time there, but I never really considered it home.

So, today, our weather decides it'll do it's best to emulate the constant drizzle of Oregon. Then, I run across an email from a friend I made while living in Portland. Then, I'm listening to Party Shuffle on iTunes, and come across a song I haven't listened to in a while. It's Sit and Listen to the Rain by Whiskeytown. I used to drive around the Hawthorne District of Porland with that song on repeat in the CD player. Then, I'd meet Ben at the coffee shop to sit and talk, and make fun of the guy that looked just like Saddam Hussein and would sleep in the corner...at 4 in the afternoon. The baristas would play the Back to Mine CD by Everything But the Girl, and I'd think about getting it for those chill out moments...but they never had it at BestBuy...only at Borders, where it was damn expensive.

Is something/someone conspiring against me to make me feel a sudden desire for Portland again? I haven't even been back to visit since I left that place. Not because I left on bad terms, but because I never felt anything really pulling me back that way to visit. Perhaps I'll go back to visit in the future. Now that I like beer, that opens up a whole new Portland that I never experienced while I was there. It's lame to go to a McMennamins, but get the hard cider.

So, P-Town, this post is for you.

Ryan Adams, Snobbery, etc.

Jenny from the block (who finally posted, by the way) wrote me an email last night to tell me Ryan Adams will be playing in concert near her in Ohio. Delightedly, I looked up concert dates for my area. Nothing. He's only doing East coast and Canada shows for now. I'm heartbroken. Devastated. I can't go on. My only consolation is that Cold Roses comes out in May, and he's supposed to have two more albums in the next year. He's so prolific.

PS - if you're thinking I spelt 80's star Bryan Adams name wrong, I didn't. This is Ryan, not Bryan. This is the former alt-country hero and frontman of Whiskeytown.

In further news, Alex has a great post about snobbery. Apparently, this stems from my conversation with Alex about abhoring snobs, but realizing we have snobbish tendencies ourselves. Like I commented on Alex's site, I'm the guy that bought the LCD Soundsystem CD, new Steve Madden shoes, and watched Bride and Prejudice at an art-house theatre last weekend in Salt Lake. Pretentious? Me?? Naw...well, maybe.

New Trends Explained

Well, I discovered the secret of why young males are opting for wearing girl jeans these days. According to Megan Issac, the boys are wearing the jeans to make them look like rock stars. Apparently, they think that if they wear tight girl jeans, it makes them look like a member of Velvet Revolver. News flash! It makes you look like a douche bag. Stop the hip-hugging madness! Shaggy, unkempt pseudo-female hair cuts, a few Dashboard Confessional CDs, and tight girls jeans (with flairs!) do not make you look like a rock star (or "rawk star" as the hip kids say.)

Perhaps I'm just getting old. Perhaps it's because most of my closet comes from the Gap, and I've been accused of turning into a preppy (a la Zack on "Saved by the Bell,") but I just don't get it. I don't like it. It's tacky. Dear God. I sound just like my mom...when her meds aren't kicking in. I'll stop now.

Weird Trends I Just Don't Get

A week! It took me a freakin' week to get anything written. I'm such a horrible slacker.

Anyway, I discovered a startling and slightly unsettling new trend this weekend. I don't know if it's only a Salt Lake City thing, or if this trend is growing in other places, but it's gaining popularity. This oddness? Teenage boys wearing girl jeans. Seriously, I can't count the number of boys that have traded in their baggy, saggy jeans for hip-hugging flaired girl jeans. I know they were girl jeans because they often had a big hot-pink coloured "MUDD Jeans" insignia stitched onto the back pocket, and MUDD does not make clothes for guys. I noticed this mainly in the skater guys, but it's generally only a small amount of time before skater trends leak into mainstream popularity.

I don't know why guys wearing girl jeans freaks me out so much. Maybe because they weren't even slightly baggy jeans, but almost painted on hip-hugger jeans. Eeks! Maybe it's because the girl jeans make the boys all look like Kirsten Dunst, only less narcoleptic in appearance. All I know is that I have to give a big thumbs down to this weird trend.

A few mini updates...

Hmmm...I haven't posted since Monday, so I'll do a brief update.

Tuesday: Spent time at work doing meaningless work. Yay. I went to dinner with my mom that night. We have this ongoing thing where we go to dinner on Tuesday nights. I'd love to complain about it, but she takes me out to eat at restraunts I can't afford, so who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? I also met Alex, who is a fellow blogger. We talked for a couple of hours, and it was really nice to meet him. And yes, Jennifer, I did set up safety phrases with Newboy...so it was safe.

Wednesday: I woke up freaking early in the morning to film a car commercial for a group of MBA students. If I wasn't getting credit for it in a class I'm taking, I would have told them to piss off. Filming went fairly quickly, and we got some good shots. The sun participated in the morning, and then went into hiding shortly after filming was done. I'll have to edit the commercial next week. I then watched daytime television, which I had forgotten was so bad, for a few hours. Got my oil changed. Went to Jiffy Lube this time, and paid $10 more, but was there for 30 minutes, vs the 3 hours I would have wasted at Wal-Mart. After the oil was changed, I drove off to Salt Lake, where I'm currently typing this entry. I ended up reorganizing my niece's iPod, which just had songs in the library, and was a mess. We got it all updated. I also won another free song, and got "Jerk it out" by Caesars. That's the song from the iPod Shuffle commercial. My niece talked me into getting it. We were also going to download some songs for her. Kelly Clarkson songs were two of them...can't remember the other two she wants. We'll have to do that tonight.

Thursday: I'm sitting at my sister's house at 9am, still wearing my pajamas. I haven't even put my contacts in. Her two pomeranians are sitting at my feet. I need a dog. I also need to go do something with my day, so I'm taking off.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm excited to celebrate St. Patricks day today. In the past, it was always one of those goofy celebrations that I never really understood, and green beer wasn't appealing to me at all. This year's different though, since I discovered my Irish ancestors.

I'd always thought that my Dad's family was just English, but doing genealogy this summer, discovered that his father's side was Irish/English, and his mother's was Irish. So, for the first time, I have a connection to this celebration of all things green and Irish. Heck, I even have an Irish flag hanging in my apartment (maybe a bit much.) I've also discovered the joys of beer this past year. I decided if I was going to Scotland next year, I better learn to enjoy beer. So, maybe I'll be brave and try a green beer (not because of the food colouring, but because of the cheap beer they use.)

So today, I will celebrate by going to the London Market here in Salt Lake. It's a British goods import shop. My niece usually goes with me, and we get a bunch of import candy, but she has school today. I might try and convince my sister that we should go to the Piper Down Pub tonight for a while.

I'll also be cruising around SLC in my kilt today. What better day to wear a kilt than St. Paddy's day? Yes, the Irish do wear kilts, though it's not as widespread as the Scottish. I just wish I could afford a new kilt in the County Armagh tartan. Maybe after I finally graduate and get a real job.

iRick

Well, this is the first post written, signed, and posted on my new Powerbook. I ended up getting the lower grade 15" model, but throwing a SuperDrive in it. I edit video, so it's a necessity for me, rather than a vanity upgrade. I should probably get more ram in here too, but 1/2 GB will have to do for now, because I'm poor.

I broke down and bought the new iWork suite while I was at it. I figured it did everything I wanted for a mere $50. Screw paying almost $350 for Microsoft Office for the Mac!

I also downloaded my first paid-for song off the internet today. Well, technically the good folks at Pepsi paid for it. I downloaded Gwen Stefani's "What You Waiting For?" I figured I should use my free song for something I wouldn't normally buy on my own. My niece will be stoked when I let her throw it on her iPod, if she doesn't already have it on the new NOW: 18 CD. My niece is all about the compilation CDs full of every crap song you could imagine.

I'm still debating if I'll download the lcd soundsystem CD before I go to Salt Lake this weekend. It would be nice to listen to on the way there. Then again, I'll probably spend a bunch of money at the British import shop while I'm down there again.

Weekend of Wonders

Life brings funny surprises every now and then. A friend from high school emailed out of the blue this last weekend. His mother was moving from Pocatello to Oregon, and needed help moving on Saturday. Since we hadn't seen each other in almost 4 years, which is sad because we only live 3 hours from each other, we decided this would be a good time to catch up.

It's funny how much some things can change, while others don't seem to change at all. Even though we hadn't seen each other in a long time, we just naturally clicked, and it seemed like we hadn't been apart for all that long. On the other hand, our lives are in very different places right now. He's married and has two kids, and his oldest is starting kindergarten in the fall. I can't even imagine having a kid, let alone one old enough to be starting school. Freaky. I like my life as it is for a lot of reasons. Being single, I don't have to constantly check in with another person to make sure what I'm doing is okay. I love the fact that I can be completely autonomous, and my actions generally only affect me. Call it selfishness, or whatever, but I also enjoy spending my money however I damn well please. I hate going out with married friends, only to have them call their wives and see if it was okay if they bought a $3 mocha. Maybe my friends are just neurotic, but it seems like all of my married friends do this. I'd go freakin' insane if I had to okay every little move like that.

So, while it was good to catch up with a LTNS (long time no see) friend, it was probably better to learn to appreciate my freedom. Funny, this post wasn't supposed to move in this direction, but it helped me shore-up some thoughts in my head.

Been a while...

Yes, yes. I know. I leave people hanging for nearly a week, and the last post I write is all about lame television shows that only appeal to dorks like me.

This last week's been a little crazy. I've had a number of projects and exams this week, and now finally have a break. I had a big Photoshop class project due today. This is all fine and dandy, but I haven't really learned much in the class. My professor thinks that the best way to teach us is to have us buy a $50 tip book, and go through the tutorials. It's like I'm taking a correspondence course, with some guy that occasionally yammers on about his glory days working for "The Simpsons" in the background. Glad I paid all that money for those three credits. *rolling eyes*

I'll now post my fake magazine ads I created for my midterms. Be nice guys. I didn't learn a whole lot in the class, so they're not anything great. I'm hoping Davis doesn't die laughing. So, without further ado...

Cheap and Tawdry TV

I'm not sure what it is about me, but I love cheap, tawdry television. I know this is the reason I love reality television so much. I just can't get enough of the cat fights, scorned lovers, and competitive antics of these people. Freaks, freaks, freaks!! I love it!!!

Recently, UPN has become one of my favorite stations. I know, I know...they don't get much whiter than me. However, with great shows like Missy Elliot's Road to Stardom, America's Next Top Model, and Kevin Hill, I'm loving this station.

I was sad to see the conclusion to Missy Elliot's new show. You got to hand it to the girl for taking all the credit for a show where she only shows up for the last 5 minutes, and mumbles stuff while sucking on a lollipop. I was sad to watch Jessica win. She's a great singer, but I personally got tired of hearing all about her *sob* hard *sniff sob* life *whah*. I guess this is a real-life crack whore to Christian Dior story.

I'm sure black lesbians everywhere rejoiced though. Seriously, there had to be something going on between her and Deltrice. Those girls loved each other just a little too much. Oh, and Deltrice...glad to see you got your mustache waxed for the final episode, but you looked like "Prison Barbie on Crank" with that pink prison outfit and chicken dance you were doing.

With Missy signing off, at least for a few months, we've got a new season of Next Top Model with Tyra Banks.

This show is cheesy, sluty, catty, and just plain nasty...so of course I eat every second of it up! I'll just state for the record now that the Cat Lady, while being a total freak, could have brought some real charisma to the show. So, for the next few weeks, if you need me on a Wednesday night...too bad. I'll be getting my model fix.

Powerbook Update

Well, the Powerbook was officially ordered yesterday. Hooray! Now I just have to wait until it gets to me. It would have been easier to run to CompUSA and get it, but I wouldn't have gotten my student discount.

Now, I just have to hope that Mr. FedEx guy gets his ass in gear and ships it fast.

Brock Brock Brock

I'm a huge chicken. I'm supposed to order my new Apple Powerbook this afternoon, but I'm terrified to do it. I've put it off for almost a month now. I've got the money for it, because of a scholarship I got, so that's not the issue. I'm just terrified of forking out that much money for a computer. This is the same crippling fear (lame, I know) that has kept me from getting a computer for the last 5 years. The depreciation value just kills me, and no matter how I try to get around it, I just freak out about ordering the stupid thing. $2000 may be a small deal to some people, but that's 1/5 of my annual income. This is a huge commitment.

The funny thing is, I know I'll love it when it comes. I'm always complaining about having to use the public computers in the school computer labs, and especially having to come to the school at weird times of night to type papers, edit video, etc. Plus, they have wi-fi in the coffee shop I practially live in, so I'll be able to surf my little heart out.

So, I guess I should just get to it and get the Powerbook ordered. If nothing else, it will make me that much closer to completely absorbing Crash's personality. Mwaaahahaha!