wojr - words, occasionally sentences
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Little Little Post
One thing I love about the Internet is its ability for one to communally revel in geekness.
Check out this message board filled with people that share in my previously mentioned utter fascination with the trailer for Garden State.
(I know - I'm a tool. Let's see your website, where you are cool ALL THE TIME.)
wojr
One thing I love about the Internet is its ability for one to communally revel in geekness.
Check out this message board filled with people that share in my previously mentioned utter fascination with the trailer for Garden State.
(I know - I'm a tool. Let's see your website, where you are cool ALL THE TIME.)
wojr
UTTERLY AWFUL SATURDAY MORNING POETRY
Crow In The Palm Tree
Two Twin Sisters
Although Twins Do Come In Twos
Both In Their Golden Years
Both With Their Silver Hairs
Both In Their Shiny Sweatsuits
One Is Blind
One Can See
One Thus Leads
The Other Follows
When They Pass The
crow in the palm tree
The Bird Craws
Both Think It Odd
Though For Different Reasons
From Different Senses
I Look At Them And Wonder
Does The Blind One Know
That She's Dressed
Like Her Sister
And I Miss The
crow in the palm tree
But I Too Would Have
Found It Odd.
wojr
Crow In The Palm Tree
Two Twin Sisters
Although Twins Do Come In Twos
Both In Their Golden Years
Both With Their Silver Hairs
Both In Their Shiny Sweatsuits
One Is Blind
One Can See
One Thus Leads
The Other Follows
When They Pass The
crow in the palm tree
The Bird Craws
Both Think It Odd
Though For Different Reasons
From Different Senses
I Look At Them And Wonder
Does The Blind One Know
That She's Dressed
Like Her Sister
And I Miss The
crow in the palm tree
But I Too Would Have
Found It Odd.
wojr
Labels: My Writing
Friday, April 09, 2004
BUT HE WOULDN'T LET ME WATCH 'THE DAY AFTER'
As I type this, my best friend and his nameless girlfriend are flying back to the right coast.
Even though my 6'3" frame hates sitting on commercial airplanes, I like flying. When those wheels leave the ground and you realize (Thanks to John Cusack in Say Anything) most planes crash on take-off or landing, it is very soothing. You accept that you could die and there is absolutely nothing you could do to prevent it. For the last few years, I have stopped and weighed what I have done in my life. I know that I could die on that plane if that is what must occur and I take a great amount of pleasure from that knowledge.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I want to live to be 91 (and die on my toilet). I am in no hurry to die. I want to marry Carmel, win an Oscar, and have a bunch of miscreant children & coerce them into competing for my approval. I'm not ready to check out, but if I have to, if I just so happen to fly on the wrong plane, I can handle it. I can accept my lack of control in those circumstances, because I have lived a pretty happy life.
This was not always the case. I use to worry about many things that were outside my scope of control.
Back in my pre-pre-adolescence, my overprotective father let me watch a documentary about Nostradamus called The Man Who Could See Tomorrow. Hosted by the scary demi-god, Orson Welles, the documentary went over all the things this 16th seer predicted. Being as young and impressionable as I was, the idea that this man predicted the rise of Hitler, the death of the Kennedys and the French Revolution really blew my mind. But when Orson Welles with that booming voice of his told me that Nostradamus predicted a nuclear war before the end of the millennium, well, I had nightmares for years.
I was going to turn 27 in the year 2000. At the age of 8 or 9, the prospect of dying before thirty did not sit well with me. I didn't want to spend nearly all my life in school. Plus, being burned by nuclear fires didn't really warm the cuckolds of my heart.
Basically, I was scared shitless by a man in stockings that had been dead for over 400 years.
I can't tell you when these irrational fears went away. Maybe they survived through the millennium, I can't be certain. But I can say that I appreciate each day now. It feels like it is some precious thing, the flip side of some pre-adolescent nightmare.
Instead of being some pile of ashes somewhere, I get to sit here, stare at computer screen and try to entertain some non-existent audience.
Or I can go outside in the park and watch planes fly overhead. There, I can realize that I've lead a good life so far, but I still want that Oscar.
wojr
As I type this, my best friend and his nameless girlfriend are flying back to the right coast.
Even though my 6'3" frame hates sitting on commercial airplanes, I like flying. When those wheels leave the ground and you realize (Thanks to John Cusack in Say Anything) most planes crash on take-off or landing, it is very soothing. You accept that you could die and there is absolutely nothing you could do to prevent it. For the last few years, I have stopped and weighed what I have done in my life. I know that I could die on that plane if that is what must occur and I take a great amount of pleasure from that knowledge.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I want to live to be 91 (and die on my toilet). I am in no hurry to die. I want to marry Carmel, win an Oscar, and have a bunch of miscreant children & coerce them into competing for my approval. I'm not ready to check out, but if I have to, if I just so happen to fly on the wrong plane, I can handle it. I can accept my lack of control in those circumstances, because I have lived a pretty happy life.
This was not always the case. I use to worry about many things that were outside my scope of control.
Back in my pre-pre-adolescence, my overprotective father let me watch a documentary about Nostradamus called The Man Who Could See Tomorrow. Hosted by the scary demi-god, Orson Welles, the documentary went over all the things this 16th seer predicted. Being as young and impressionable as I was, the idea that this man predicted the rise of Hitler, the death of the Kennedys and the French Revolution really blew my mind. But when Orson Welles with that booming voice of his told me that Nostradamus predicted a nuclear war before the end of the millennium, well, I had nightmares for years.
I was going to turn 27 in the year 2000. At the age of 8 or 9, the prospect of dying before thirty did not sit well with me. I didn't want to spend nearly all my life in school. Plus, being burned by nuclear fires didn't really warm the cuckolds of my heart.
Basically, I was scared shitless by a man in stockings that had been dead for over 400 years.
I can't tell you when these irrational fears went away. Maybe they survived through the millennium, I can't be certain. But I can say that I appreciate each day now. It feels like it is some precious thing, the flip side of some pre-adolescent nightmare.
Instead of being some pile of ashes somewhere, I get to sit here, stare at computer screen and try to entertain some non-existent audience.
Or I can go outside in the park and watch planes fly overhead. There, I can realize that I've lead a good life so far, but I still want that Oscar.
wojr
Labels: My Writing, Nostalgia
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Judas Priest is just glad they never released that eye-gouging song..
So, a man in Texas was in county jail for cutting out the hearts of his son, estranged wife & her daughter and ends up gouging his eye of its socket with his bare hands.
Why did he do it? Because the Bible told him to - "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell." Mark 9:47
(Quick tangent: The article does not say whether or not the man, Andre Thomas, had a cellmate, but imagine if he did. Imagine you're sitting in that jail cell waiting for your arraignment and your bunkmate rips his bloody eye right out of his head with his bare hands. How's that for a 'Scared Straight' program?)
The part of the whole affair that currently bothers me is, given the fellow's inspirational source material, you just know the religious right would acknowledge the man's obvious psychological problems and shrug off any implications of fault on the Bible's part. That verse was not meant to be taken literally because, well, it's not a passage that furthers their social agendas.
But if Mr. One-Eyed Thomas had decided to mess with his depth perception due to a heavy metal song or a Miramax film, well, we would be knee-deep in their propaganda efforts by now. The man's psych issues would just become a footnote and they'd be slinging mud at the idolaters.
But forget about all that, we've got Janet Jackson's boob to rail against. One body part at a time, people.
Have a happy Holy Week.
wojr
So, a man in Texas was in county jail for cutting out the hearts of his son, estranged wife & her daughter and ends up gouging his eye of its socket with his bare hands.
Why did he do it? Because the Bible told him to - "And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell." Mark 9:47
(Quick tangent: The article does not say whether or not the man, Andre Thomas, had a cellmate, but imagine if he did. Imagine you're sitting in that jail cell waiting for your arraignment and your bunkmate rips his bloody eye right out of his head with his bare hands. How's that for a 'Scared Straight' program?)
The part of the whole affair that currently bothers me is, given the fellow's inspirational source material, you just know the religious right would acknowledge the man's obvious psychological problems and shrug off any implications of fault on the Bible's part. That verse was not meant to be taken literally because, well, it's not a passage that furthers their social agendas.
But if Mr. One-Eyed Thomas had decided to mess with his depth perception due to a heavy metal song or a Miramax film, well, we would be knee-deep in their propaganda efforts by now. The man's psych issues would just become a footnote and they'd be slinging mud at the idolaters.
But forget about all that, we've got Janet Jackson's boob to rail against. One body part at a time, people.
Have a happy Holy Week.
wojr
Labels: News, Religion, Snide Remarks
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
"People are people, so why should it be..."
Woe the man whose personality can be summarized by a t-shirt slogan, but-
Remember those shirts that read "MEAN PEOPLE SUCK." For the longest time, Bronc wanted one that just said "PEOPLE SUCK." In his view, the world would be a great place, if it weren't for all the people populating it.
But then I remind him that we need people. Without them, his strip clubs would just be empty, tacky bars. Without people, his precious football games would be less interesting than watching grass grow*. Without some certain Tennessee peeps, there would be no one to make the Jack Daniels that sustains him.
However, we have now fixed all this. The man has a new shirt and, I think, a new outlook on life.
Bronc and MB landed late Friday night and went straight to their hotel. So, I didn't meet up with them until Saturday for lunch. While sitting at a sidewalk café, we see a vendor selling t-shirts. The shirts read "I ♥ Black People." They are genius. With surprising agility for a man his size, Bronc leapt the railing of the eatery and ran up to the man. Haggling with the fellow (because Bronc loves black people but not enough to pay full value), he managed to reach an amicable price and bought shirts for all three of us. Carmel was working and got nothing (She probably would not have appreciated the shirt anyhow).
So now, instead of "PEOPLE SUCK" - the large Italian fellow now ♥s Black People. He is changing right before my very eyes. If only we could broaden that love to the other colors of the spectrum.
And that was the first hour of his trip to LA. (I will get a scan of the shirt up sooner or later.)
wojr
*Football is played on astro-turf. Get it. The "grass" doesn't actually grow.
wojr
Woe the man whose personality can be summarized by a t-shirt slogan, but-
Remember those shirts that read "MEAN PEOPLE SUCK." For the longest time, Bronc wanted one that just said "PEOPLE SUCK." In his view, the world would be a great place, if it weren't for all the people populating it.
But then I remind him that we need people. Without them, his strip clubs would just be empty, tacky bars. Without people, his precious football games would be less interesting than watching grass grow*. Without some certain Tennessee peeps, there would be no one to make the Jack Daniels that sustains him.
However, we have now fixed all this. The man has a new shirt and, I think, a new outlook on life.
Bronc and MB landed late Friday night and went straight to their hotel. So, I didn't meet up with them until Saturday for lunch. While sitting at a sidewalk café, we see a vendor selling t-shirts. The shirts read "I ♥ Black People." They are genius. With surprising agility for a man his size, Bronc leapt the railing of the eatery and ran up to the man. Haggling with the fellow (because Bronc loves black people but not enough to pay full value), he managed to reach an amicable price and bought shirts for all three of us. Carmel was working and got nothing (She probably would not have appreciated the shirt anyhow).
So now, instead of "PEOPLE SUCK" - the large Italian fellow now ♥s Black People. He is changing right before my very eyes. If only we could broaden that love to the other colors of the spectrum.
And that was the first hour of his trip to LA. (I will get a scan of the shirt up sooner or later.)
wojr
*Football is played on astro-turf. Get it. The "grass" doesn't actually grow.
wojr
Labels: Bronc, Crackers, Snide Remarks
BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE..
If you haven't already seen it, Dave Chappelle: Charley Murphy's True Hollywood Story - Rick James.
Very well might be the funniest thing I have ever seen.
wojr
If you haven't already seen it, Dave Chappelle: Charley Murphy's True Hollywood Story - Rick James.
Very well might be the funniest thing I have ever seen.
wojr
Monday, April 05, 2004
But what I really want to do is direct movie trailers..
Personally, I am a big fan of the movie trailer, a big fan.
I think there should be more of them in front of the featured film. I search them out on the Internet for repeated viewings. I even go so far as to watch the show on E!, Coming Attractions, that is entirely comprised of these precious advertisements. Well, you get the point; I'm a fan of the movie trailer. (If you don't get the point, please go lock yourself in a mountain cabin and never allow yourself to reproduce.)
I recently saw two trailers that caught me off guard and not for the reasons one would expect.
The first was the preview for a film called Saved! (Their exclamation point, not mine.) The film looks to be about a high school for born-again Christians. The thing that astounded me was my utter inability to decipher if the film was embracing this contingent of Christianity or outright mocking it. I think the film is a black comedy, but I'm afraid I may be projecting my own cynicism on what I saw. If someone knows what is going on with this movie, please let me know.
The second trailer was for a film called Garden State. I remember reading about this film in a report on the Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by Zach Braff, the star of Scrubs, the film was lauded as on of the breakout hits of the festival. Yes, written and directed by the star of Scrubs or as Bronc put it "The doofy white guy?"
The trailer, however, kicked my ass.
The damn thing is only 65 seconds longs, has utterly no dialogue and completely transfixes me. It's just a series of quasi-iconic images shown in conjunction with this beautiful song by a band called "Frou Frou." I have utterly no idea what the film is about, but I am completely sold. (And my Natalie Portman obsession has nothing to do with it. Ok, almost nothing.)
A song by a band called "Frou Frou." A film by White Guy from Scrubs. What the hell is going on with my sorry ass?
Hell, I'm going to go finish my own script - if the Scrubs guy can have a "genuine filmmaker's eye and is loaded with talent", it should be easy, right?
Right?
wojr
Personally, I am a big fan of the movie trailer, a big fan.
I think there should be more of them in front of the featured film. I search them out on the Internet for repeated viewings. I even go so far as to watch the show on E!, Coming Attractions, that is entirely comprised of these precious advertisements. Well, you get the point; I'm a fan of the movie trailer. (If you don't get the point, please go lock yourself in a mountain cabin and never allow yourself to reproduce.)
I recently saw two trailers that caught me off guard and not for the reasons one would expect.
The first was the preview for a film called Saved! (Their exclamation point, not mine.) The film looks to be about a high school for born-again Christians. The thing that astounded me was my utter inability to decipher if the film was embracing this contingent of Christianity or outright mocking it. I think the film is a black comedy, but I'm afraid I may be projecting my own cynicism on what I saw. If someone knows what is going on with this movie, please let me know.
The second trailer was for a film called Garden State. I remember reading about this film in a report on the Sundance Film Festival. Written and directed by Zach Braff, the star of Scrubs, the film was lauded as on of the breakout hits of the festival. Yes, written and directed by the star of Scrubs or as Bronc put it "The doofy white guy?"
The trailer, however, kicked my ass.
The damn thing is only 65 seconds longs, has utterly no dialogue and completely transfixes me. It's just a series of quasi-iconic images shown in conjunction with this beautiful song by a band called "Frou Frou." I have utterly no idea what the film is about, but I am completely sold. (And my Natalie Portman obsession has nothing to do with it. Ok, almost nothing.)
A song by a band called "Frou Frou." A film by White Guy from Scrubs. What the hell is going on with my sorry ass?
Hell, I'm going to go finish my own script - if the Scrubs guy can have a "genuine filmmaker's eye and is loaded with talent", it should be easy, right?
Right?
wojr
Labels: Hollywood
MONDAY MORNING MELEE
Yes, Mondays are crazy, especially when the Lords of the Daylight Saving steal a hour from your life.
Yes, I am still alive - no need to call 911.
Yes, Bronc is still in town and has yet to be incarcerated.
Yes, I have a funny story or two from this weekend to tell, but they will have to wait a few hours to convey.
No, Bronc does not have access to the Internet, so we can all see that he is a SEA MONKEY. The Tale of the Tiger Sharks continue.
wojr
Yes, Mondays are crazy, especially when the Lords of the Daylight Saving steal a hour from your life.
Yes, I am still alive - no need to call 911.
Yes, Bronc is still in town and has yet to be incarcerated.
Yes, I have a funny story or two from this weekend to tell, but they will have to wait a few hours to convey.
No, Bronc does not have access to the Internet, so we can all see that he is a SEA MONKEY. The Tale of the Tiger Sharks continue.
wojr
Labels: Bronc
