The Eyes Of A Spectator

I did a massive re haul on the entire site, and took a lot of advice from some people who told me to make changes. I had some of my friends help me decide what to do and how to do it, but I came up with and designed something that I really liked.

I think this design is really good, and I took a lot of peoples advices once again.

I made the labels showing, and I made 3 columns. The column to the right shows all of my artists. I might be changing that to recently played artists or albums, or something like that.

I also took all of my previous posts and labeled them all, which took a really long time. Now it's easier to navigate through all of my posts, as if you want to see movie reviews, just hit movie reviews on the left hand right.

I also got rid of a lot of those nasty widgets, and the site should be running a lot faster, because I cleared up a lot of HTML coding. There also used to be a list of stuff that I planned to review, and I got rid of that, and now I'm going to completely improvise everything, on the spot when I decide to make a post.

So here we are, me and my group of friends walking around at night. It's a good amount of people. I'll name anyone who I can remember. Jenna, Phil, Anthony, Stephen, Zach, Nick, Kyle, and I. I'm not sure if there were more people, but I'll explain the really amazing story that unfolded.

We were walking down the road, and it was very cold, so I wanted to see if the lake at the local park was frozen. So we go to the gate and the park is closed. We pretty much already knew it was going to be closed, so we ended up climbing over the fence. The park closes whenever the sun goes down, and that really sucks in winter. Anyway, so we climb over and I head over to the lake with 2 or 3 of my friends, to check to see if it were frozen. We go and it turns out it wasn't. So while we look back, we see that my friends are still going over the fence. After we meet half way, a police car goes strolling by, and we realize we're fucked.

My one friend comes up with the brilliant idea of climbing out the other way, and I simple told him, "Do you really want to walk AWAY from the cops?". And we promptly started walking towards the cop.

He shone his light on us, and that's when my other friend Zach flipped out, and started running as fast as he can. In some miraculous way, the cop did not notice which was amazing.

So we're all climbing the fence, and Anthony who usually has trouble climbing a fence, went over in like 5 seconds. His reason was that if there's a cop present, he'll do anything in order to not get arrested. That's good I guess.

So we're all over, and the cop comes out of the car and walks towards us. He asks us for ID, and by now we realize that Zach didn't have any ID on him. That's why he ran away as fast as he did. My friend Anthony also, never ever carries his ID around with him anywhere. It turns out, he lost his ID 3 months ago, and this VERY morning, Nick had given it to him. How much luck is that.

Then we turn back at the gate and we see Phil struggling to climb under the gate. Phil is a pretty big guy and I don't want to be offensive, but not that strong either. So he gets stuck under the gate, and the cop turns to him and starts chuckling and asks if he should call the paramedics.

Everyone started laughing, and me and someone else helped him through.

After that everyone gave the cop ID's and the cop went into the car. We were all pretty much freaking out. He had said that if we didn't have ID, he would have to drop us off at our houses. None of our parents would want that.

So as the story continues, he comes back out, and There arrive 4 more cops. Now we all get really scared.

So here we are surrounded by 5 cops, just staring at us. This one cop just looks at me as I make the comment "Wow, 5 cops, really? I feel so intimidated, is that really necessary?"

He just continues glaring at us. Then the initial cop turns to the other cops and starts ripping on Phil, saying "Guys check it out, this guy can't even climb up over a fence." Laughter ensues, and Phil must be humiliated. After that, the other cops join in on ripping Phil a new one. They start talking about how he should go to the gym, and do more exercise, and why he can't do it.

It was sad, but it was all very very funny. After that, the cop gives back all of our ID's and makes us swear that we won't trespass in the park again.

And that's the story, it's true, and there are witnesses to prove it.

I've been getting into music like crazy within the last couple of weeks, and exploring as much as possible. I think I may have stated this a couple posts ago but now its more different.

I've added over 100 artists into my musical library, and even more albums and songs. My goal was to hit 7500 songs, but I've past that last week, and now my new goal is 10000 songs.

I wrote about two artists, Harlem Shakes, and Mouthful Of Bees, which I could not find, and still cannot find. But here is an updated list of music that I want to find and import into my library. Here's my list anyway.

I usually research the music that I listen to, and find more people related to that initial artist. I usually find 4-6 artists that relate to the band that I am listening to.

For example, when I listen to The Beatles, and I look up related artists, I'd get John Lennon, George Harrison, The Wings, and Ringo Starr And The All Starr Band.

So the music branches out pretty quickly.

I just want to state that I hate it when people don't know anything about the music that they listen to. I'd go to school and see people with Interpol, Metallica, and Beatles shirts. Now I get frustrated every time I see someone with those shirts on, because I go up to them and ask them "Oh, so which album do you think is the greatest?" and they sit their looking at me like what am I talking about.

I actually just saw a girl with a Beatles shirt on, and she could not name 2 albums by them, or even 10 songs. It was horrible.

In other news, I've been watching Avatar, and since it's a pretty short show, I'm almost done with it. I really like it so far.

This movie is a remake of the old one of the same name, made in 1951. This movie got some pretty bad reviews everywhere and by everyone, but I didn't think it was as bad. I was supposed to go see this with a lot of my friends, but I ended up not going, and so I watched it online. Usually I don't watch movies online, but I figured if it were that bad of a movie, I wouldn't want to spend money on something that sucks.

Review of "The Day The Earth Stood Still."

Plot Summary.
This guy named Klaatu, who is basically a guardian of the universe type of thing, comes to the Earth to stop the humans from destroying, or reaching the tipping point of the Earth. The tipping point is actually a scientific term which basically means, the damage will be irreversible. So while he comes, all he wants to do is check out humans, and see if they actually care about what the hell is happening to the Earth. Apparently Earth is one of the more complex planets in the universe and it's destruction would not be allowed to happen by the guardians of the universe. Another robotic type machine named Gort, is the protector of Klaatu, and if anything happens to him, then he goes apeshit and starts wreaking havoc on everything around him.

The Good.
I really adore the CGI and graphic effects in the movie, they are just absolutely spectacular. I also like how Klaatu talks in a monotone voice throughout the entire movie. The plot line has a pretty good substance I think, and it unfolds well over the entire movie. Other than that there isn't much good.

The Bad.
Apparently, Keanu Reeves is the only person that the director saw Klaatu as, which really irritates me. It was his only choice as the main actor, and that just seems so wrong. There are plenty of actors that I could see taking Klaatu's position. Keanu, just isn't the right actor for the part. I also love Jennifer Connolly, but I don't see her in this position either. And why is the kid black? They never even showed a picture of the husband, and it's just very random. Even if they were aiming for the whole "there isn't a black person in the movie" issue, it would still make sense to have the kid as a white kid. Somewhere along the movie, I thought to myself, "I know exactly where this whole movie is going," and I did. The plot is good, but the way the movie is put together, you know what's going to happen. And I did. Gort starts destroying everything, and Klaatu stops him. That's it. The ending to the movie was absolutely horrible. It pretty much killed off the entire movie. It was basically Jennifer saying "That's it they are leaving," AND THAT'S IT. It was really really bad. If it weren't for the ending I would give a higher score.

My Overall Thought.
I just think the ending could have used a lot more work, and the casting could have been much better. The plot and everything was great, but this fails to even come close to the original story from the 40s. I haven't seen the 1951 original, so I can't say much. I also know that in the original, the 1951 movie had a very very famous line that goes something like "Klaatu Barada Nichto!" and it was never delivered. This line was used in many movies after, and is held in high esteem by many directors and fan boys.

My Rating.
I give this movie a bad 5/10. Yeah, it's pretty bad, but not as bad as critics said it was. I'd see it again with a friend or something.

World of Goo is a game that was released for a couple of platforms, namely Wii, PC, and Mac, and a Linux version is in the works.

It's a neat little game that is truly unique in many aspects.

What It Is.
A game created by only a couple people, it's astonishing. Using a pretty basic physics engine, that is similar to real life physics, you can feel and understand why everything is happening in the game, balance wise. It's also pretty humorous and can make you laugh at times. Your basically trying to get into pipes every level, and sometimes your not, but that's only on rare occasions. The gameplay changes every chapter so it keeps the game play very unique at all times.

How It Works.
Well, every level you start with a bunch of goo's and you have to build your way to the pipe. That's pretty much all it is. Later on in the game, the game dramatically changes, and you have more and more challenging levels, with ideas you've never thought of.

My Experience.
The first time I got World of Goo, I got the crappy mac version when it was ported, which means it was done by some random guy. It ran very slow and choppy and got pretty unplayable. Then later on I got it again, and got through the first levels pretty quickly. I love reading the signs, because they are real fun to read and laugh at. The cut scenes are really simple but also really funny as well. A lot of heart was put into this game.

The Bad.
Sometimes the physics aspect of the game gets pretty ridiculous, but I guess that's part of the challenge. I also wish you could make your own levels, because the game itself is very very short. You can finish the entire game if you rush through it within 5 hours. The game doesn't have much re-playability, and therefore loses a lot of it's appeal. But, if you bring a friend over, it's great to show it to them, and it's a lot of fun.

The Good.
I'm glad they put the one World Of Goo corporation level. This level is basically 300 goo's at max, and your goal is to build up as high as you can go. While doing this, you can see your rank throughout the entire world. The most highest I've managed to get is in the 10,000 rankings. As I said before the physics engine is great, but it can be ridiculous sometimes, so it's shared. The amount of fun you have is great, especially with a friend. I think one of the biggest appeals to me is the soundtrack. I loved the soundtrack so much, that I ripped all of the songs, and put it in my iTunes, and I listen to it here and there. It's truly something you can just have fun listening to.

My Future Expectations.
I'm not sure how successful this game has been, because I heard that 90% of all copies of this game are pirated, which is a lot. I hope the company really gets what they deserve, because they put a lot of work into it, and deserve some cash. I'm also not sure if there will be a sequel, but I'd love it if there were. I'd also love it if they released a level builder. I'm sure some crazy ideas would spawn.

My Rating.
I give this incredibly unique game, a good 7.5 out of 10. It reminds me of LittleBigPlanet, just a smaller version, and you can't build your own levels.

I will admit, I did not plan on seeing this movie, at is not my type. It is my mother's type however, and it was her weekend. She hates anything that's fiction, action violent and along those lines. So were limited to practically nothing except this movie. I was surprised to see that Vince Vaughn was working with Reese Witherspoon. I guess they are working at it to get into more semi-serious movie grounds, as this movie isn't all comedy.

Review of "Four Christmases."

Plot Summary.
There's a couple who are extremely happy with how their life is going. They have fun, they have sex, and they like it the way it is. They are also against changing anything besides what they are doing already. They don't want to get married, don't want to have kids, and also don't want to spend Christmas with their family, great eh? So while they had a ticket planned to go to Fiji, all the planes were canceled at the airport, and they had to resort to going to all of their parents, because they were caught on live TV. That's the general idea. While they are at their parents houses, they all discover things about each other, and now their love is shrouded in mysterious mystery about their previous lives.

The Good.
I must state that I really like Robert Duvall a lot and he's one of my favorite actors. I think overall they did a great job with the casting, because I think everyone fit their roles. The acting was pretty good too, especially with Jon Favreau, whom I adore for his here and there short skits on random TV shows, and movies. I think the story line is pretty good too, because I haven't heard anything like it before. The comedy aspect of the movie was really good, because it didn't make you laugh through the whole movie, but kept you dramatically aware, which I think the director was aiming for.

The Bad.
One, I'd like to ask how the hell over 100 planes would get canceled, seriously that rarely happens, if anything delayed at most. Also, visiting 4 separate families on one day? Common, there's no way that's physically possible. Oh yeah, and I wouldn't ever see a couple like that in real life. I don't think that type of relationship can exist in this world. There aren't many bads that I can think off, overall I'd say it's a well off movie.

My Overall Thought.
I don't really have much to say about this movie, that's why I was very quick to review it. I think it's a good movie to see if your just around with your mother, or a woman, girlfriend etc. It's not a spectacular movie where everyone wants to see it immediately. Actually, I haven't even heard of this movie around that much. It wasn't advertised that much.

My Rating.
Yeah, this so so movie is an okay movie as a chick flick during Christmas. I give this mediocre movie a 6 out of 10. I'd give it a higher score, but it doesn't appeal to me and wouldn't feel right.

This is kind of unexpected, but I saw a movie called Four Christmases with my mother. It had Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn in it, who are really not my style of movies. My mother wanted to see a movie, so we saw that one, because she loves the movie Legally Blonde.

Anyway, my point is, I'll be doing a review of it tomorrow, hopefully anyway.

And now, I'll be listing a whole slew of artists, bands, and musicians that you may, and may not have, heard of. Alright here goes.

Justice, Bob Marley, The Editors, Cold War Kids, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Stars, Stephen Malkmus, The Ventures, Reverend Horton Heat, The Dandy Warhols, The Surfaris, Tegan and Sara, Electric Light Orchestra, and Dick Dale.

I've got a couple artists that are really good, but they can't be found anywhere. I'll list them, and if you have any idea where I can get anything please let me know.

• Mouthful of Bees

• Harlem Shakes

Can't find them anywhere.

After I review the movie tomorrow, I'll try to talk about Friday night, if I can remember.

I entitled this one "I Don't Even Know."

free writing is whatever you want it to be. i'm staring at the ceiling and typing ridiculously phrases that i don't even understand myself. i look at my light bulb and i think to myself, what kind of pizza is good pizza? is it the one that's sad all the time or the one that';s hot and red and made with love, then I think to myself, why is there such a misunderstanding of the phrase "i love you". i feel so odd at certain times like a huge ball of fear of my own life shatters my mind into little bits. and those little bits can only be put together by my very own hands. my hands are in the sky and my body is on the floor. desperation is the shadow and my body has no light. i am consumed and i cannot do anything.

how's that for free writing.

I just came from college to meet with an adviser to set up new classes. They have a new system in which you can set up your own classes however you want online, it's pretty cool, although you can get really lost if you don't know what you're doing.

You basically have to have credits in every main subject in order to graduate. Here's what my line-up will look like as soon as I'm done setting up my classes.

English 101, Psychology 203, Music 135, Math 102, History 103, and an elective class hopefully.

If any of you go to college or know anything about college, that's a lot more classes than I need. That's a total of 17 credits, which is a lot more than anyone needs for one semester, but I want it to get more ahead.

I feel that I would be fine with English, Music, Math, and hopefully a physical education class.

The only things that I'm somewhat worried about is History and Psychology.

See you next post.

For some reason Blogger has been acting up and I haven't been able to put up any posts this week. I've had to do it from another computer.

I put up a new video on my youtube channel, dragonmantek.

I'll try to work on this problem and find out the issue that is causing it.

See you next post.

So I went out for the day with my father, and we had some fun.

We went to Roosevelt Field Mall, and it was great. We went to a bunch of stores and looked at interesting things and ate food, and bought some stuff. 300 dollars worth of stuff!

We went to a couple sporting goods stores, because I wanted push up bars, and ankle weights. I couldn't find any ankle weights that I liked, so we decided to skip that. I did get push up bars, and I am very happy about them. They cost 20 dollars, and they are really great.

After sporting good stores, we went to Macy's and spent 3 hours there. I don't know if you guys know, but they've been having huge gigantic sales for Black Friday. Some stuff was 80% off. My father and I bought 2 coats, 2 pants, and one shirt. The total was 300 something dollars and let me tell you, it was well worth it.

The coat I bought was a double breasted old-style coat. It's original price was 400 dollars. I got it for 80. My dad's coat was 250, he got it for 70. The 2 pants I bought were priced at 60 dollars, we got them for 12 each.

All-in-all, I'm glad Black Friday lasted until December 1st.