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The Free Pass Actor

Last week if you told me that Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs would be tied for the weekend top gross ($36,200,000) and that Crazy, Sexy, Love would come in 5^th behind – Aliens, Smurfs, Captain America, and Harry Potter I would have been awfully skeptical and probably would have argued it. I guess since I’m not a parent I forgot that little kids like little blue things in CGI.

I basically had no faith in The Smurfs at all. I heard that it’s really bad… Rotten Tomatoes reviewed it at 20%, for a while it was 0%, which is unheard of.

I actually saw Crazy, Sexy, Love, this weekend and liked it. I didn’t love it but I liked it, I should note that I’m a sucker for romcom’s but the movie was solid – the acting, writing, directing, all of the above, but maybe a little long - on a side note I think that Ryan Gosling is going to win an Academy Award in his acting career.

Anyway, I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t check out Cowboys and Aliens this weekend. It’s got all the fixins that I like – Han Solo, James Bond, Spielberg, Favreau, Cowboys, Aliens… I mean why didn’t I see this movie? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I planned to see it on Sunday and drank too much on Saturday – but that’s a different story all in itself.

When I read that Aliens was on par with Smurfs I sat back and thought about this for a minute because quite honestly I think that the Aliens crowd should be bigger. The movie seems like an adventure and when you have blockbuster caliber attached to adventure you have a blockbuster.  Did the Smurfy CGI kid thing really manage to bump the adventure offered from Aliens? I guess so, but really? I mean, when I think of Adventure I think of a few things:

1) Indiana Jones.

2) Steven Spielberg movies (producer of the film).

3) Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford movies.

I’m lingering on this whole thing, but I guess it just goes to show that the top dogs have lost some steam. If this were a different time any Harrison Ford / Spielberg movie would still have lines outside the doors. Right? But on the other hand they did make Indiana Jones part 4 which may have been one of the more forgettable movies in my movie going life.  Which got me thinking…

It got me thinking about actors who no matter what they do will have a Free Pass by the movie going public. When I say free pass I mean that we forget they were even in a shitty movie, all we remember is that they killed it at one time or another. What got me thinking about this – Harrison Ford, of course.   He’s the ultimate Free Pass actor, as far as I’m concerned Harrison Ford could make a bomb with Josh Harnett or Brendan Frasier and we would turn the other cheek… oh wait…

Which brings me to my list of actors who have a “Free Pass” they may have done shit… but we will forever forgive them.

1 - Harrison Ford: See above. But seriously, lets take a second think about how great this guy is and was.  When I heard that Harrison Ford improvised the famous line in Empire Strikes Back when Leia says “I love you” and he says “I know” he pretty much sealed the deal for the biggest badass around.

He’s been in movies that have generated over 3 billion dollars for Hollywood and he’s one of the most iconic actors working. He can do garbage and act as disgruntled as he wants and I’ll always love this guy. For the record – I personally think he’s keeping his lame earring just to throw it back in our faces, which I love.

2) Bill Murray: “Come in Ray” yes, he’s Peter Venkman, not to mention he had Meatballs, Caddyshack, and one of the most underrated Bill Murray roles of all time – Ernie McCrackin in Kingpin. I could sit here and ramble about Groundhogs Day or all of the amazing Wes Anderson movies he’s been in but I’m going to focus on his actually life for a second.

Not sure if you’re aware but there is currently a Bill Murray legend building as you read this. Seemingly there are new urban legend stories popping up yearly, and it all started with (as far as I’m concerned) the story about him tackling some kid in the park.

As the story goes - a kid was walking and suddenly was tackled from behind, when the kid got up he looked at his attacker and it was none other than Bill Murray, Murray looked at him and said “Nobody will ever believe you” and ran away from him. And so it began…

Murray seemingly has these random stories popping up all around the country - from him driving drunk in golf carts, to him fighting at Chicago Bears games. Murray is everywhere. Oh, and one other side note about him – he doesn’t have an agent, which makes it very difficult to communicate with this guy. Society loves Bill Murray.

3) Meryl Streep: Come on. She’s the woman with more accents than there are countries. I can’t remember her last bad movie but if she ever does one we probably will forget.

4) Robert De Niro: Ahem… Rocky and Bullwinkle and Righteous Kill. BUT this guy was Vito Corleone for god sake aka The Godfather. Not to mention, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Casino, Ragining Bull, Deer Hunter, and a bunch of comedy. De Niro has the ultimate pass and one may argue he’s in Ford territory.

5) Al Pacino: If a man has ever talked to much when accepting an award his name is Al Pacino but he’s still in the Free Pass club. He’s kind of in the De Niro category due to his earlier career but something about Pacino is different. He takes on more roles than De Niro, or so it seems.

What’s great about Pacino is that he’s entered the world of TV (most recently as Kevorkian for HBO) and also he was in Insomnia directed by Chris Nolan (just had to drop that in).

Although Pacino doesn’t have the De Niro comedy chops he’s a Corleone… 

6) Johnny Depp: Hello Jack Sparrow. I like Depp, a lot of people like Depp, and Depp hasn’t done much bad over time (I haven’t seen The Tourist). Here’s the thing with the Depp man:

He does out-there roles – Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland, Willy Wonka, and Pirates. But then he brings it back and reminds us that he’s a good actor and not just a character in things like Blow, Nick of Time (underrated), Finding Neverland (saw it alone and cried in a theater), and Chocolat.

Lets not forget he’s an attractive guy and has a ton of sex appeal. But seriously, the thing about Depp is that ever since he took on Jack Sparrow he became more than a house hold name – he became an international brand. Disney has taken The Pirates franchise and marketed it to the masses like no other movie in recent history.

Depp may be the one actor who appeals to men, women, kids, stoners, film geeks, auteurs, other actors, up and coming actors, people who want to act like their misunderstood, and anyone trying to make something commercial. He runs the gamut.

7) Leonardo DiCaprio: When this guy froze in the Atlantic Ocean and Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go on was cued DiCaprio locked this position down. Leo was sort of an actor version of Justin Bieber many years ago and managed to flex his talent muscle throughout his career.

I actually don’t know where to begin with this guy – He’s a legit Hollywood actor that can take on any role. I think for a while he was screwed because he’s always had this younger boy presence (which isn’t a bad thing) but it was difficult to believe everything he was doing. But now with age he’s able to be even more believable.

What’s especially great about Leo is that he had street cred with most Hollywood directors – I’m excited for his role in Django Unchained directed by Tarantino – coming out next year.

8) Will Smith: This is easy. He’s Will Smith. This man has worked his career like he’s a machine for the last 30 years, literally. He’s methodically become a superstar. Bill Simmons recently wrote a really good look into how this guy has become this guy.

Will Smith released a song call “Nice Guy” which pretty much sums up why he’ll always have a free pass.

9) Tom Hanks: In the 90’s this guy was the romcom king with Meg Ryan, he then went on to win back to back best actor awards and solidify himself as one of the most likable and bankable actors in Hollywood.

I love that Hanks has spread himself across most genres and platforms. Not to mention… he was in Radio Flyer (underrated).

10) Clooney: Rounding out the Top 10 is George “I’ve probably slept with you” Clooney. I think Clooney is brilliant and I’ll tell you why:

Early in Clooney’s career, and after he broke out of ER, he did From Dusk Till Dawn, which was so totally out there and basically opposite smug doctor Clooney, it gained him some movie cred considering it was directed by Robert Rodriguez and co-written by Tarantino. But then Clooney said… I want to be a superstar and I want it now…

He jumped into One Fine Day, The Peacemaker, and Batman and Robin. Somewhere in those movies he smartened up and did Out of Sight with J-Lo but more importantly its was directed by Steven Soderbergh. I think it was this movie he said to himself “It’s better to work with good people rather than take the mainstream shortcut with easy films” (in those exact words).

From Out of Sight Clooney played it safe with his decisions all while taking on very difficult (smart) roles. He worked in films that had good/strong content. He surrounded himself with good people and even if a movie was crappy he always had the crutch to fall back on and say, “hey, it was a good story.” It’s like his movies have a fail safe if they’re bad… does this make sense?

Also – he’s a good director, and we all forgot he was in Leatherheads.

Bonus*

Tom Cruise: I can’t believe he’s not in my top 10 but lets be honest here, his couch jumping really F’d him. Just recently Mission Impossible 4 got bullied by Sherlock Holmes 2, and MI4 moved their release date anticipating a Homes box office ass kicking, come on… How did that happen to Tom Cruise? Unfortunately, everyone wants to see him fail so he doesn’t have the free pass anymore.

Brad Pitt: Ehhh, he should maybe be in the top 10.

Matt Damon: See Brad Pitt

The entire cast of Ocean’s 11, 12, 13: Soderbergh effect. See Damon.

Robert Downey Jr.: He’s getting to free pass status but he’s been down before and it could happen again, I need to see more.

Clint Eastwood: I had to put him here. Sure, he’s a director now but when he’s in a film he brings the goods, not to mention he’s a legend.

Sean Connery: Arguably the best 007 ever, also Indiana Jones’ dad. I think I have Indy Joes bias.  

Honorable Mention:

Julia Roberts

Bruce Willis

Robin Williams

Russell Crowe

Marky Mark

Keanu Reeves

Michael J Fox

Eddie Murphy

Kevin Costner

Will Ferrell

I just read that Cowboys and Aliens edged The Smurfs by $800,000 --- There is hope for adventure.

Lies I Told Myself

If you’re not a sports fan there’s a good chance you didn’t know there was an NFL lock out for the past few months. What that meant to the common fan, like myself, is that players and owners were on rocky ground and couldn’t come to an agreement on issues such as money, more money, and then money. What this also meant was there were no stories on football to report because the sides were divided and “locked out” -  ie: no trade rumors, injury reports, updates, shit talking, all the things that engages us as fans.

As the common fan I was indifferent these past few months, and something happened. I didn’t look at ESPN.com as much and I didn’t watch Sportscenter as often. From that alone I came to a conclusion: I care too much about sports. It was eye opening how much time I spent randomly reading about my team and off-season moves. From that conclusion I told myself that I think I may take a step back, I think I can substitute sports indulgence with something else. 

When I heard the lock out was over the first thing I did was text a buddy some random comment about how it’s time for the Packers to repeat and win the Superbowl, then to follow it up with a comment about Brett Favre (probably a penis joke) and his retirement. Truthfully, I think I was waiting to send that text since last season, and I don’t ever think I will ever get tired of Brett Favre comments.

Later I went to ESPN.com to read about football then went to Twitter, to tweet, but also to read tweets about football. Kind of pathetic, right?

In the course of 2 hours I was back into the flow of football. What’s going on with trades, free agents, teams, my potential fantasy football, and then it hit me… What the hell was I thinking? I love sports.

Was I some kind of sports fan who was posing as someone who didn’t need sports? Did I really think that I could take a step back from sports when my hometown Packers just won the Super Bowl? Who the hell was I kidding? I love to read about trades, hear about team issues and inspirational stories, I love watching motivational catches and acts of athleticism that I only think I can do, and most importantly: I love to think I know more about my team than the general manager does… I’m a fan.

Which leads me to one very solid conclusion: I was lying to myself about not wanting football. Which opened a can of worms… what else have I been lying to myself about?

I give you my: Lies I’ve told myself in 2011.

Not Wanting And Needing Sports: See above. But let me add juuuust a bit more to this. Sports are fun and engaging and they remind me of the greatest line Matthew McConaughey has ever said in a movie - “I get older, they stay the same age.” Of course MM was talking about high school girls, but in sports the talent level stays the same or learns from their predecessor and improves.

(Women, sorry I just compared you to the sports talent level but the same could apply for men. I should probably get of this subject, in the words of McConaughey and every movie he’s ever been in “Alright…Alright…Alright”)

Entourage Is Played Out: I’ve been telling myself that this show jumped the shark for years. (Thank you Fonzie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE) Ever since Vinnie chase took on a drug addiction and E started his own management company I was thinking, WTF. But, truth be told I really like this show and have been following it now for 8 seasons. It’s difficult not to stay attached to this show, especially when you live in fiction world like myself and actually think you have the same Hollywood problems as this crew. I’ll be sad to see it go.

I Don’t Like Harry Potter: I embraced and took on this series after the Prisoner of Azkaban. Voldemort is no Darth Vader but I’d argue he’s the closest thing in a very long time (I still love you Star Wars).  Harry Potter, you’re adventure and I appreciate you for this.

I Understand Soccer: Yes, I understand how soccer is played… or wait, do I? I don’t know if I could tell you who is off sides or even how many people are on the field at one time. I really thought I understood this, but on the world scale I don’t understand how the teams match up, when they play, why they play, and what tournaments are going on when they’re going on. I’ve recently jumped into this to try to learn and educate myself on the most popular sport in the world.

I Like Dominos: Fact: In 2010 employees of Dominos shoved pizza ingredients in their noses and around their asses (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D9PikBzNNo&feature=related).

Dominos went on to launch a self deprecating campaign, which apparently saved Domino’s stock, to say that they’re going to be fresh and they have learned from their mistakes…blah blah blah bullshit. I tried their new “recipe” and almost fell for their make over until I saw a Dominos employee smoking in front of Dominos.

And then it hit me – I almost fell victim to corporate advertisement. Dominos has done nothing to change their employees just their perception. As far as I’m concerned this is still happening… probably in a lot more places than Dominos, but I need to see it to believe it. 

I Love Netflix: Love is a strong word, and I misused it on Netflix. Before they split the $7.99 streaming and 1 DVD package to $7.99 for each service I was skeptical with this streaming service. It’s half assed as it stands, but to their credit they’re in beta phase with streaming and trying to get more licenses to stream, but I don’t love this, I like it. Get more streaming movies and I’ll love it.

Realty TV is Worthless: This statement was too general, example: Anthony Bourdain is great. Also, the worthless trainwreck is the best entertainment.

Too Much Technology Hurts Us: What the hell was I thinking? I love the options and the possibilities. I love knowing that I may be a cyborg soon and that I can connect with millions of people in a matter of minutes. I once thought this may be intrusive but the reality is, we’re accepting it and running wild with it.

Bring on the eye scans and nano’s!

I Understand Google+: This is fairly new to the world, and it’s the social networking mastermind that should rival Facebook. I am here to say, I don’t necessarily get it.

So I can only have circles? Why are my pictures so big? Am I always signed in? Wait… I’m in my 20’s - I should get this… right?

And so it goes, maybe this is more that I just don’t necessarily like it as much as I don’t get it, and maybe it will take time to grow all over me like google did 10 years ago. Also, Facebook is just embedded into my system right now and I don’t know if Google is doing anything so different that I need it, the one exception is that I use Gmail, which actually may be a huge google advantage. Either way, why ruin a good thing? Unlike Facebook, Myspace was clunky and scattered – which is why it took over Myspace in 1 second.

Not to sound like an old man but I realize there are many things I may have written off a little too soon. Patience and time are much needed, it’s good to sit back relax and remember things you … Wait… Shit…  McNabb may have been traded to the Vikings, gotta read ESPN.com.

 

The End of Entourage

I’ve been trying to remember the last time a show was about a main character but it’s not actually about the main character, it’s actually about it’s supporting cast. I was really digging deep for this one and I didn’t come up with much, actually I didn’t come up with anything… Muppet Babies? Wasn’t that show about “Nanny” or was it? I don’t’ really remember, I just remember her striped socks. I’m sure a show will come to me at 3am when I’m not thinking about it, but that’s exactly what Entourage is, and to it’s credit it is called Entourage.

This weekend marks the beginning of the end to Vinny Chase and his best friends. As I’m sure everyone knows the show is loosely based off of Mark Wahlberg (First time ever I didn’t initially call him Marky Mark) and his best friends accompanying him in LA. Along with his best friends he has his fictitious super agent Ari Gold based off non-fictitious super agent Ari Emmanuel.

I set my DVR to record the final season and I wasn’t too sure why, I don’t even know how much I care about the show, 80 percent of me tells me I’ve been invested for 7 previous seasons and it’s too late to stop now. There are only 8 episodes in the entire 8^th season and I think I owe it to myself and see how this thing plays out. But seriously, why do I care about this show? Let’s be honest here for a second, the show isn’t all that good anymore, right? So I’m going to take a moment and flush out everything I remember of Entourage.

Warning: This timeline may be wrong. A lot of things may be wrong actually but it’s how I retained Entourage over these years:

I remember the show opening at Fred Segal’s on Melrose located in Hollywood. When I was watching all I thought was “Holy Shit, I literally live 8 seconds from Segal’s, I could see it at my house off of Kilkea. And when I say my house I mean I was living with my Aunt and her husband for a short amount of time. Lets dive into this a little further and open up the guts of Entourage –

I was living in Hollywood (check) and when you live in Hollywood you’re here for the entertainment industry (check) and when you’re in the entertainment industry you’re probably struggling at some point (check) and all you dream about is making something of yourself so you can call your friends and brag… I mean enjoy it together (check) and BOOM this is why we all love Entourage. This is a no brainer; they’re living the dream.

Success, friends, women, freedom, movies, and playing in the sexiest and most unknown universe in the world – Hollywood. This is what the first season was to me and it’s what the first season was to a lot of people, the appeal. Not to mention this show was filled with very specific supporting characters that were more memorable than the lead.

But I’m still hung up on this appeal thing because it’s very important. Aside from just knowing that this season was cool can anyone really remember what the first season was about? No, okay that’s fine because most can’t remember most first seasons. Moving on… what was any of this show about? Specifics I remember:

Vince (The Star) Bangs girls and eventually gets a drug problem.

E (Vince’s best friend) becomes his manager.

Drama (Vince’s brother) is in and out of acting and is also the funniest character on the show.

Turtle (Vince’s other best friend) drives Vince everywhere and eventually tries to do his own thing. The he starts dating Jamie Lynn Sigler (somehow).

Ari (Vince’s agent) gets a funny gay assistant, but consistently yells at people.

Wow. Not much. But that’s okay, because although Entourage seems as though its character driven, it’s not, it’s appeal driven. The appeal and small set pieces of these characters just being cool and getting a lot of attention is what makes Entourage. The show opens the door to the people living outside of Hollywood and exposes what it’s like to be here, and it flaunts Hollywood to the people living here… It’s the perfect equation.

I think this show always knew that and somewhat walked the fine line of character development and environment development, even though they kind of go hand in hand. The show is like a burst of energy with down time of character, and when we see that burst of energy it’s so cool, it’s almost unattainable.

So, as we get ready to watch the final 8 episodes and see how Vince and the crew get him out of his coke addiction all I can hope is that he really gets out of it and starts being awesome again. I think it’s too late to try and define this show as anything other than a fun show that exposes what we don’t have but what we all really want.

To the credit of everyone on this show they were killing it for a little while, the story lines have kept me for a solid 8 seasons (even though I can’t recall most) and the guest characters they’ve accumulated may be the best in TV history. It’s just that I don’t have much attachment to any of these guys… Maybe Johnny Drama just a little bit. 

I guess as I think about it I do have some slight attachment to Vinny Chase and his crew, probably because everything they’ve had is so appealing to me.

Justin Timberlake

Today may be Harry Potter day but I thought I’d take a minute and discuss another former boy bander - Justin Timberlake (Yes, I know Daniel Radcliffe wasn’t in a band but he was on Broadway, so that may count as something) and the fact that he may be moving into leading man territory next week when he opens Friends With Benefits.

Next week marks a significant time in Timberlake’s acting career, he’s opening a movie as the lead male actor. “Who cares?” you may say… Well, I care, I say. Today when I saw the big billboard with Timberlake trying to look like the friend next door across from Mila Kunis (more on her in a minute) I asked if I was ready for him. Hollywood clearly is taking the musician JT paired up with the “Holy Shit is Timberlake really in a David Fincher film” steam and putting him in a movie that Ashton Kutcher is born to play… No Strings Attached reference.

I needed to do some reflection and ask if I had any beef with JT, no. I actually really like his music, and when he had dyed curly blonde hair I secretly liked some of his poppy NSYNC music. So why am I questioning this? Well, it’s because I hadn’t accepted JT the actor quite yet. Although he’s been in close to 10 films I still always pictured him as a performer on SNL, in digital shorts, singing on the ESPY’s, and looking at Janet’s boob.

So let me do what I’m best at, and that’s break down scenarios that not need to be broken down, thus essentially laying out what’s going to happen with JT’s career post next week. As I see it, 1 of 3 things will happen:

Scenario 1: Best Case Scenario

The movie opens to good reviews, and not only does the movie open to good reviews but Timberlake has good reviews, and especially with his Kunis chemistry. Along with the good reviews the movie makes roughly 30 million and thus gives insta solidification to the idea that JT can be leading man in a movie.

From here he does a few more films with solid directors (next film is with Andrew Niccol aka a great director) and then re-enters leading man role in a comedy, then eventually moves to serious.


In this best-case scenario he takes on the career of former musicians turned actors: Frank Sinatra, Mark Wahlberg, and Will Smith. JT will one day look back at the time when he was second fiddle and occasionally dabble back in music making him the ultimate double threat to music and film. Of course he will produce, direct, and probably write something in the future.

The Big Ol’ Asterisk of this Best Case Scenario: Today is Harry Potter day and it doesn’t seem like this train is slowing down. On top of that, Potter has competition in the form of Captain America, which opens along with Friends with Benefits. What this means is JT’s movie is going to open at #3… that’s right, 3.

Opening Friends with Benefits is some kind of brilliance or a blatant slap saying “Hey we know you aren’t going to open #1 at the box office so we’ll just throw you into the mix of the 2 biggest movies of the summer.” Either way the best case is that this movie opens at #3 with 30 million.
Last thing on this – if it does open to 30 million then that means this weekend will most likely be one of the biggest opening weekends ever. Best Case.

Scenario 2: Worst Case Scenario

The movie opens to poor reviews and totally bombs. We hear that JT can’t open a movie and the in film chemistry is on par to Madonna and Banderas in Evita. The movie opens with 8 million and falls behind Potter, Captain America, this week’s Winnie the Pooh, and next week’s indie sleep Another Earth.
We all make jokes about this movie but ultimately wipe it from our memories and Timberlake needs to continuously take on rolls in the supporting world, makes another (good) album, and goes back to SNL to save face. His career would mirror former musician turned actors: Henry Rollins, Lance Bass, Bon Jovi, and Sting. We will only see JT as a supporting role.

Scenario 3: Most Probable Scenario

The movie opens to mild reviews, as does JT’s acting performance. The movie generates roughly 20 million (very respectable) and still opens behind Potter and America. The catch with this scenario is that we can’t really get a gauge on what JT can do and is capable of – the thinking is as followed:

“He opened a movie during the heart of the summer and still managed to pull 20 million. We think we can still bank on him so lets toss him in another romantic comedy and see how he does… Um, who is available… Jennifer Aniston?”

This scenario is open ended because we don’t know what will happen, and this is precisely why this is genius to open this movie on this day. It’s a lock to make some money but if it doesn’t we can blame so many other factors.

JT will get many more opportunities to prove himself and eventually re-assert himself in the leading man role. For a while he’ll be like other musician turned actors: David Bowie, Ice Cube, LL Cool J, and Mos Def. But he’ll eventually come into his own.

One of the above will happen next week; we just need to wait on the reviews.


Final few things about JT – He’s doing his best to define himself as himself and move away from the musician of it all. I don’t know if it’s just me but I always find the “musician turned actor” less believable unless you’re the minority in Marky Mark, The Fresh Price, and Old Blue Eyes. So I need to respect what’s happening here in his career, because up until now he hasn’t really done anything too commercial (and yes I know he was in The Social Network).

JT surrounds himself with good people. Will Gluck directs Friends with Benefits who did the hit Easy A, and he’s paired with rising star Kunis. Mila basically has everything going for her right now – Black Swan, Sarah Marshall, Family Guy, Denzel movie nobody saw, and she dated Macaulay Culkin… Come on.

Lastly, he’s no fool. He clearly knows what he’s doing and makes very educated decisions about his next step in his career and apparently he’s good at what he’s doing. The simple fact that he was in The Social Network gives him actor street cred immediately. But that’s the thing with JT, we’ve only seen snippets of him, not a full 90 minutes of him… at least not yet.

So, next week, as you go see Harry Potter for the second time or check out Captain America just remember that the musical George Clooney (tons of chicks, isn’t slowing down) is going to open his first film and this will be the spark as to what will happen next. Although I’m nowhere close to sold on JT, I actually have faith that he’s going to do a great job and we’ll one day forget that he was a singer… until he does his Sinatra comeback tour.

A Chronological Embracement of Harry Potter.

2001: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is released. I think the previews look childish but someone entertaining. I don’t end up seeing it in the theaters and don’t think twice about it.

In college my roommate Chris vowed to me that the first Harry Potter was a good movie and was sure I’d like it. Even though I was a movie buff, at the time I was too busy consuming the 3 dollar liter of Vodka that I paid too much for, and the only thing I really cared to know about Harry Potter was that Haley Joel Osmet almost got the role.

One cold winter at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (random shout out) while everyone was on winter break Chris and I were finishing some classes. Seeing it was only the two of us he knew it was as good a time as any to ask me… “Want to watch Harry Potter?”  I really don’t know why I didn’t want to watch this movie, but I’ll take any excuse not to study, so I finally said – yes.

I guess I can now admit that I didn’t really want to like Harry Potter before watching the movie. I’m not sure if I was oddly stubborn that I didn’t come up with the idea or if I was turned off by the phenomenon and the eagerness to embrace this little lightning bolted kid.  But to my credit I think I did go in with an open mind.

He started the movie… I watched about 30 minutes… And without surprise I passed out before the second act got kicking. Not sure if it was from the probable hangover or the lack of interest, but either way from that moment, I was done with Harry Potter.

Flash forward from that point on, or rewind from current day.

2002: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is released. I have some interest and am still wondering what happened to the first film and me. I contemplate either seeing the movies, or actually opening the book. I do neither and don’t miss it.

2004: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is released. Wait, Gary Oldman is in this movie? He’s a badass, should I be seeing these movies? I don’t see it but I hear they’re only getting better, which was a surprise because Chris Columbus kicked ass with the first 2 (apparently).

2005: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is released. At this point I’m sick of these movies, don’t know why, I just am. Are these really still being released? I have no interest what so ever in these movies but I will admit the trailers look cool. The other thing this movie has going for it is Mike Newell, the director of Donnie Brasco, what the hell?

The major note with this film – Potter goes to PG-13 territory. It takes the step from PG and enters odd territory – more on this soon.

2007: Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix is released. This is where I believe a monumental change happened in Harry Potter, and at this point I still have only seen 28 minutes of the first one.

1) Also PG-13 like it’s predecessor.

2) The poster is ominous. The movie looks dark.

3) The word of mouth happens, and if my name was Malcolm Gladwell I think this would be called “The Tipping Point” this is the movie that people started to say: “Harry Potter is Dark and isn’t for kids.” In my opinion this was always what people said in order to bring in an older crowd and I didn’t buy it. I thought it was all for marketing, in hindsight it’s kind of genius because as Potters audience got older, so did the movie content.

4) The trailer looks badass, again.

5) Random Robert Pattinson cameo aka Edward Cullen from Twilight. Not really a cameo but his picture used, it should be noted he died in the first Harry Potter. Not sure how this is relevant, just seems like it is.

2009: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is released. In my opinion at the time Harry Potter was the octomom of movies. When will this ever end? Also, why do I think these movies look so cool yet I’ve never seen them? Should I start watching now?  Nah… it’s too late.

HARRY POTTER NEWS ALERT! There will only be two more Harry Potter movies ever but it’s going to be split into an epic story of Potterness. Fans go nuts - others don’t care.

2010: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 is released. Watch the trailer. Let’s be clear about something, this trailer looks really cool. These kids look weathered like the banker who has to count all of the money these movies have made. But I’ve given up on seeing this movie. I think it’s just too late for me to get my head in the game, I focus on other great movie releases in 2010 like…um… ah… moving on.

2011: Present Day-ish.

I’m sitting in The Green Lantern (don’t ask) and the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 is shown. While the trailer is happening my girlfriend clinches my hand and whispers that she has the chills. Huh? I say to her “I’ve been with you for 3 years and you’ve never said a thing about Harry Potter.” She tells me she loves it.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Now I need to know. My girlfriend rents “The dark one” aka The Order of the Phoenix and I watch it.

The weirdest thing happened. While watching the movie I found myself to be somewhat bored, but oddly engaged. I let the movie play out and I stuck with it. I didn’t know if I liked it but as soon as it finished I had about 20 questions. And how do I get answers to these questions? I must watch the other movies of course.

I watched the next one – same thing, I found it slow but I was engaged the entire time. The again I watched Deathly Hollows. The movie felt like it was 480 minutes but I stuck with it.

Now I find myself here today open and willing to admit that I am a fan of Harry Potter. It snuck up on me and I have been wondering how it happened. I’ve realized that that’s been the problem the entire time, I’ve been wondering too much. I just didn’t accept the adventure of Harry Potter, I questioned it too much and I fought it simply because it felt right.

These movies are really straight up adventure of kids and it has sucked me in. I can say that these have been some of the most consistent movies I’ve seen from the characters staying the same to the growth of the film… this is a really great story. What kid doesn’t want to leave his house and embrace adventure?

One random note – This cast of characters have aged perfectly, in the history of movies I don’t know a group of kids who have stayed pretty good looking for this long a time. I should stop talking about this before it gets too weird.

I called my college roommate Chris today and told him my deal. Told him that I’ve turned and came around to Potter, I told him he was right the entire time like Jack in LOST. After my Potter ramble he said:

“Oh yeah, I haven’t seen the last 3 but I need to catch up and my girlfriend loves them.”

I don’t get it. I just know that I get that I like Harry Potter.

The mystery that is Aloe Vera.

It’s time we as people embrace one common fact – When you have a sunburn, telling someone that Aloe Vera works isn’t a new thing.  In fact, we all know this. I think I’ve known about Aloe Vera since the age of negative 6, but when you have sunburn you inevitably have everyone around you tell you about this mystery substance that’s comparable to flubber.

Case in point: I went canoeing yesterday at big bear with my good friends Peter and Dan (side note about this… see below).  As we hop on the canoe Dan is applying sunscreen, he asks “he do you want some?” I say “yes, I’ll grab it in a minute” and of course I never grab the sunscreen.

TIME LAPSE:     Sun…Sun…Water…Sun…Fun…Sun…

Our fun at Big Bear ends and we come home, where I see my face and it’s tomato red. Dammit (By the way Dan has a great tan). I know I need to do something to combat my red face so I proceed to head to CVS pharmacy to pick up some Aloe Vera, why? Well, it’s simple – Aloe has been pumped in my mind by anyone and everyone post sunburn for years, if I’ve retained one piece of knowledge in my life it’s the benefits of Aloe Vera.

Next Morning:

Called my mom – “Mom I got burnt at big bear…”

Mom: “Oh honey, you know what you need? Aloe Vera. I literally once dripped the Aloe plant onto my sunburn and it worked right away.

Get to work:

Random buddy: “Bro, nice sunburn, you know what you need? Aloe Vera. Try that banana boat stuff.”

Another person:

“Oh, Josh you should get some Aloe Vera. But not the stuff with the alcohol, just the regular stuff.”

You get the point. So, to all you people who are going to suggest Aloe to anyone under the age of 10… don’t. We already know. Unless you know about the really good Aloe Vera, then tell all of us.

Side note from above: Check out www.intransit.tv for Pete and all great things travel. Next trip is canoeing down the Mississippi…

Thinking

I just saw a movie – I wonder who’s in it? Checking the Internet movie database, oh yes of course, that one guy from that one thing. Well, since I’m on the computer I mine as well click a few more links and browse a little bit to check out Actors. Oh, this guy is in that one Oscar Wilde adaptation? Cool. Well, since I’m here I should click on Oscar Wilde, nice; a few quotes of his just came up, here’s one that sticks out –

“A man who does not think for himself does not think at all”

Yeah, no shit, Wilde. Wait, something just caught my attention, a link to t-shirts with quotes on them, and not just any quotes, I can look at all sorts of T-shirt quotes – funny, famous, characters etc… God, I love the Internet. Sure, I’ll take a look.

CLICK.

Oh no way, a link to more graphic T’s, here’s a funny one with a Velociraptor doing a rubix cube that says “Clever Girl”. Wow this is indeed very clever and also a pretty great quote from an even greater movie, you know I think I should send this link to my friend.

Open G-mail, pull up “compose” and then I see it – an advertisement discussing low euro rail passes. Well, this is great because I’ve been looking for cheap tickets for a trip I’m going to be taking.

CLICK.

Looking and browsing and checking all of the prices on various dates… What the hell, the euro rail has a Facebook page?

CLICK.

Oh I have a new message. Cool! My friend has a film in a festival and needs people to vote so it can get a high rating at the fest.

CLICK. (Voted).

Interesting, there’s a banner for another film with a familiar guy. Who is this guy? Internet movie database time, I’m back to the database and headline is talking about Zoolander 2.

CLICK.

Wait, I need to focus here for a second. And then it hit me, as a wise man that I once heard of named Oscar Wilde said: “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” Am, I thinking for myself right now? Or am I scattered from information overload that I can’t complete simple tasks? But here’s the catch – All of this information is my interests and essential placed in their spots due to my search preferences. I need to read that quote again because I’m starting to fear my past thinking for myself doesn’t have me thinking in the present.

The quote seemed simple enough but I’m coming to realize that my thinking is becoming progressively scattered. I’m not sure if it’s my natural personality to lose focus so quickly or the fact that I have so much great information at my finger tips that I’m gluttonous with what I want to see and learn, maybe it’s both. But either way I’m reaffirmed on how important thinking is, and on the flip side thinking too much can be a hamper, which leads to over analyzing and lack of decision-making.

I’m trying to connect these dots here and I’m not to certain what I’m exactly getting at here but I can sense it’s something, and I just need to think about it a bit.

Stallone: The Underrated

First name Sly. Last name Stallone. Actually it’s Sylvester Stallone but Sly just sounds better. Let me tell you about this guy because I think we take him for granted simply for one specific reason – when we think of him we think of him as an action guy. We think that he’s going to be killing someone or blowing up something.

However, I’m here to tell you why he’s the most underrated man in film with 3 examples.

#1: The Writer Stallone. Yes, that is correct, he writes screenplays, as a matter of fact can we please review some films on his resume:

Rocky

Rocky II

Rocky III

Rocky IV

Rocky V

First Blood

Staying Alive

Rhinestone

Rambo

Cobra

Over the Top

Cliffhanger

Oh! Wait, did I just write that correctly? Did I just see STAYING ALIVE in the mix of Rambo and Rocky? Yes, that is correct you did. Stallone wrote the film that some would argue put John Travolta on the map. Also, he wrote Rocky and uses roman numerals, which brings me too…

#2: The Man responsible for some of the greatest montages in cinema history. How could any human being forget the Rocky music (cue in your head) and then him training for the big fight? Specifically, how can we forget Rocky IV when Rocky fought Ivan Drago and he trained in the slums of wintery Russia while Drago trained in a facility built for Zeus. In all seriousness when I need a pick me up I still watch the rocky 4 montage (found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwvoTDoO9Hg)

I have a theory that Stallone’s Rocky montages changed the game on the modern day montage, especially with sports stories and anything to do with overcoming any obstacle. Think about it.

Stallone managed to show training in 8-10 minutes and pass a successful story in the montage, as well. Something always happens to Rocky in his montages and when he comes out he’s a better man for it, yes it’s the point of the montage, but Sly has nailed it. Speaking of nailing…

#3: Dude was in a porno. In 1970 a Broke Stallone needed some cash and filmed a porno called “The Party at Kitty and Studs”, which was released and was never seen. Then in 1976 when Rocky hit the scene the porno was rereleased and called “Italian Stallion” with Stallone as the headliner.

If this juicy nugget was released in the Internet era Stallone’s career would either be classified with Kardashian/Ray-J or dismissed like...err…umm… has anyone turned the cheek on a porn? Point is, it’s in the ether of film and yet, we’ve forgotten about it. Kudos Sly Stallone for being in a porno before being in a porno was cool.

Nickname.

I just had a critical thinking session about nicknames and people that have them, I then dug a little deeper and thought of the origin of nicknames themselves.  Then sat around for about 20 more minutes and thought why is it called a “nickname” or wait, is it “nicname” with no “K”? No, no, it’s with a K – the Internet told me so. And for the record when I finish reading this I’m going to head to Wikipedia and read all about the nickname origin.

I find this concept just awesome. People have a nickname like secret agents. The nickname is so personal simply because it defines you to individual groups as an extension of who you are. One moment you’re sitting in your office doing business then the next your buddy from college calls and says:  “What’s up High Life” and the conversation goes on without missing a beat. (Note: My nickname is not High Life).

Also, you can have more than one nickname pending on what group of people you’re in. You could be “Killer” to Joe and Mike but you can also be “Smiley” to Sam and Todd.

Random mid thought note: Is the nickname just a guy thing? I don’t really think it is.  I’ve known a few girls who call each other nicknames but for the most part they just call each other by their last name… I think. On that note I should say that calling someone by his or her last name doesn’t classify as a nickname.

Let’s take this one more notch because I feel as though I’m pigeonholing nicknames to people. Everything has nicknames: states (I’m from the Cheese State), towns (I live in the city of angels), sports teams, monuments, pictures… you get the point.

Basically, every human being should have a nickname. It’s an extension of you - it’s an alter ego to a certain extent. Your nickname is something to embrace, if you don’t have one I suggest you search deep and think about it. The nickname allows you to connect to those who know you have it… It’s your identity (yes, like Batman aka The Dark Knight).

For the record I’m fortunate enough to have a nickname. A few actually, friends who knew me had one for me and friends who know me have one, and like many nicknames it evolved as I did.

Sincerely,

Crazy Eyes.

Kidding! Not my nickname -  I don’t have crazy eyes -  I don’t think.

The Wikipedia Origin of Nicknames: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickname

The Candy Jar

If you’re the person in the office that can’t stop snacking and then plays the blame game because other people in your office brings M&M’s, chocolate, chips, or any other comfort food. You should look up “Self Control” while eating the M&M’s.

That Guy.

Dear Guy who honks at women and then turns his head at a 49.3-degree angle checking them out on the sidewalk,

Honestly, has this ever worked? Does honking the horn of your Civic ever make a woman hop in your car? Let’s play out best-case scenario just this once:

Step 1 - Guy Driving.

Step 2 - Guy see’s appealingly dressed woman walking on the side of the street.

Step 3 - Guy turns down his Akon, or turns it up.

Step 4 - Guy then honks at the girl.

Step 5- The girl turns simply because it’s a honk making eye contact Guy.

Step 6 - Guy stops and signals for girl to hop in the car.

Step 7 - The woman hops in the car.

Step 8 - Guy proceeds to indulge in whatever he thinks is going to happen and then drops the woman off at some random location, after the deed is done, calling his friends bragging about what just happened.

Now lets play out what happens 113% percent of the time:

Step 1 - Repeat steps 1- 5.

Step 6 – The girl shrugs and walks away creeped out.

Step 7 – Guy contemplates yelling something to the girl (any lame comment like “Hey Girl!”)

Step 8 – Guy drives away, turns up Akon and thinks it never happened. Or, if it did happened he mentally just had sex.

Getting back to the point – has any guy honker ever successfully picked up a girl? Come on? Seeing this happen actually makes me feel bad for females. Can’t the men just keep it to a head turn minus the honk, or a smile minus the headturn?

Either way, here’s to you creepy honking head turning guy. Godspeed. And to any woman who actually responded to this guy… Not sure what to say.

Underrated Movie.

I would like to express in a random moment of movie thought that Minority Report and Unbreakable are two extremely underrated movies. Why? Well, because half of the technology in Minority Report is actually here. And because Unbreakable was Unbreakable… They call me Mister Glass.

The Art Of Procrastination

Meet Tim. Tim’s your average 20 something guy who just got a new job doing admin work for a large bike company. One of his duties is to write a report for his company, in this case his report is to track the emergence of bike stores in a 3 city radius and if any of these bike stores are similar to his company. Tim’s initial reaction:

“Well this is boring as shit.”

A familiar reminder sneaks up on Tim, he needs a job, and the reality is the report will take about 35 minutes if he just focuses and gets his work done. 35 minutes is perfect because his game is going to start at 7:30, that gives him more than 3 hours to do this. Plenty of time to finish, grab food, and relax for the night…

4:14 – Tim sits down at his computer. Opens Microsoft Word and starts to type “Bike Stores…” Stops, changes his font to make it larger. Thinks about using bold, stops and stares at his screen – he then clicks on the little Firefox web browser at the bottom open the internet and look into new bike stores.

4:20 – Opens a website for bike stores, this website allows you to Facebook  “Like” what you’re looking at. Shit, that reminds him… Facebook.

4:21 – Facebook browsing. Oh wow, Michelle uploaded new photos from last night – lets check em’ out for a minute.

22 minutes Later Tim has just looked at Steve, Michelle, Leslie, Matt, Phil, and Chris’ facebook pictures. He chimed in on 3 conversations and “liked” the movie Speed at some point in between.  He’s back to reading about bike shops.

4:45 – Microsoft Word is opened and Tim is writing his first line of his first paragraph, he’s just learned about some bike shops that are growing which is perfect because this can be a key to his entire report. He’s moving, he’s on to his second… third… now forth sentence. Wait, damn. A big green line just came under his fourth sentence, it say’s he should have used a “ ; ”  (semicolon) and not a ” , “ (comma) for about 2 minutes he wonders what the “ ; “ sign is anyway, and he restructures the sentence because he thinks commas make his look smarter.

4:53 – That comma threw him off. Tim is standing now, pacing, getting ready to write. But, he’s hungry and could use a snack.

4:54 – Looking through the cabinets – Not something heavy or greasy because he’s typing. Look in the fridge – then freezer – the cabinets again. Ah! Pita chips!

5:01 – Sitting back at the computer, munching on some pita chips, they’re so good. Tim reads the nutritional facts, after reading the facts they taste even better. He reclines back a bit because he doesn’t want to get crumbs on his keyboard.

5:04 – Okay ready to get back to work. He stretches and cracks both sides of his back, stares at his computer screen for a bit. Damn, he should have got water with the pita chips.

5:06 – Apple juice is sitting next to him, he decided against water. Okay, time to work on the report.

5:11 – A sound goes off on his lower right hand corner, it sounds like a bird whistle. Oh yeah! Tim signed up for Twitter last week and installed Tweetdeck on his computer, he hasn’t changed the settings yet but when he is @mentioned then he gets the noise. He opens tweet deck – Damn! Is Charlie Sheen really talking about warlocks again? Oh wait, who mentioned me? Oh, it was Phil!

5:25 – Tim finally has constructed the best 140 character retort to Phil he could think of, so funny… he hopes. Wait, can Phil sense sarcasm via twitter? Yeah of course he can.

5:31 – Redid the Phil tweet.

5:32 – Lets see what James Franco posted on yfrog.

31 minutes pass and Tim could tell you the location of Judd Apatow and Kathy Griffin. They’re 3,000 miles apart - Twitter told him.  He silences his computer, no more tweet deck noises.

6:03 -  Focus, okay. Looking over the Trek website, then Specialized. Tim’s getting his info he needs, starting to get into his groove but is having some problems finding certain specifics – Oh wait, his blackberry is beeping that red light… ignore it. Tim grabs his blackberry. Text from his buddy, Blake Griffin did what!?

6:10 – Youtube time. Apparently Black Griffin had some crazy dunk. Tim finds it. Holy shit, the dunk was pretty nuts. Next to the 12 second video he’s watching there is a link “LeBron James dunks” he’s just gonna watch one video.

14 minutes later it dawns on Tim that he’s not as far as he thought on his report. We’re approaching 6:30 and he’s not even half way. Okay, that’s fine. He’ll jam this out, not to mention he can miss just the first few minutes of the game.

6:24 – Tim’s stuck. No progress. Wait, what exactly is this report about? Does it even need to be in the form of a report? He wonders if he can just write back and say not enough info, and come back to it later? He’s checking.

6:32 – Damn, there is enough info, he checked. He’s wondering why he didn’t utilize the info he just looked at.

6:35 – Slight progress. Just one problem, the new JJ Abrams film released a new trailer today, he’s gotta watch it.

6:38 – That was awesome.

6:39 – Working, sort of.

6:41 – I should check my email.

For the next 28 minutes, after checking work emails and personal emails, Tim enters a mini crisis. What am I doing with myself? He realizes this isn’t even the job he wants, he should be doing something better and noble like saving the world or something. He’s wondering if he’s over reacting. Wait, Tim can work through this, he’s mentally strong enough. He remembers how much this job pays and it gives him a lot of free time. Okay, okay, he tells himself he’s okay. He just needs to do some push ups to get the blood flowing.

50 push-ups, 2 headstands, and partial yoga he once was taught, and an added 11 minutes Tim is somewhat rejuvenated. But he’s tired. He once heard that Aaron Sorkin has to shower to get his mojo going, he needs to clean off his bad energy. Good idea. Time to take a quick rinse.

7:35 – Shit! The game is just getting going and Tim is drying off. He better rush this because he’s gotta see this game, he hates to Tivo it.

7:50 – Tim has 4 paragraphs, he’s about halfway done, and his eyes are burning the clock on his computer. He’s wondering where they are in the game, and reminds himself this is a HUGE game

7:53 – A skype message pops up, Tim always keeps skype and AIM open. His next-door neighbor messaged him:

 “Dude! You watching this?”

“Not yet”

“Want to come over for a beer?”

Tim knows that was the kiss of death. He evaluates where he is in his report knowing that he’s about halfway, maybe he can finish the other half after the game? Yeah, it shouldn’t take to long.

Tim heads over to his buddies, leaving his computer screen open as a constant reminder to get his work done when he returns home.

10:40 – Game is over. 4 beers consumed. Tim sits on his computer and checks out espn.com for highlights of the crazy game he just watched. He notices the small W representing Microsoft word – Damn.

In a moment of mental desperation he convinces himself that he can finish this in the morning. Even if he doesn’t finish this in the morning he’ll do it at work, it doesn’t need to be turned in until about 3, he’s about half way done so it should only take about 15 minutes. It’s the perfect plan. 

A Moment Of Life

Not sure if it’s because I’m extremely tired or simply because I had a “moment” today but I wanted to take my earlier moment and flush it out. I was flipping through various radio stations on my drive this morning; currently I’m starting to find myself predominantly listening to talk radio. I don’t really care what it is. I start with ESPN radio because it’s sports, then flip to Dan Patrick (more sports) then NPR, get bored and flip to the left wing station get tired of it and flip to Glen Beck for a laugh. And it’s all just chatter then more chatter and then more of it.

Now I know what you’re thinking “dude, you’re listening to talk radio” yes but the talking on the radio is so redundant and a knee jerk reaction to scenarios that took place 3 minutes ago. We have no choice but to polarize our society because if you don’t and you’re a talk radio correspondent you’re going to be left behind. I’ve heard that the rule of talk is to either be loved or hated, there can’t be a in between. If something lands in between then you’re not opinionated enough. So I get it.

I flipped off the talk radio and cruised in traffic for about 20 more minutes in complete silence. Silence is a gift. My mind because clear and my thoughts became fluid – wow this is basic. But it’s this basic daily activity that gets overlooked and is sitting backseat to noise and activity. In my silence that I so often forget it’s there I had my moment, my moment of complete and total clarity.

Clarity that I can only control myself and how I act in this time and space, clarity that we’re all in an area that is more of a gift than anything else. Wow, how did I forget this? Even for one second I don’t think what’s around us should be overlooked, ever. What you do with it to not overlook it is up to you, I can’t say for certain what you should do, but I know what I should do.

We live in an interesting world and an even more interesting universe. We have a short period of time in the grand scheme of things and this gets so easily overlooked. From my moment I say to you - Utilize your surrounds and never underestimate your footing.  

I’ll probably be listening to talk radio tomorrow. 

Technology

I think it’s safe to say that we’re past the point of talking about how fast technology is moving and we can also stop talking about the need to “accept” it for what it is and what it’s becoming. If you don’t talk about technology like that then I’m guessing you think it? If you don’t think it, that’s okay – just keep reading.

I feel as though there is this fearful stigma with technology, maybe it’s from James Cameron or maybe it’s from the actual fact that you’ve had your identity stolen several times. Maybe your bank account was hacked via paypal and you lost 99 dollars and had to change all of your passwords. If the latter is something you can relate to, I get it, but don’t forget that at the end of the day it was you that signed up for paypal, amazon, twitter, crate and barrel, any online banking… and so on. So hold yourself accountable.

That last thing to say may have been a little harsh because the reality is we can’t stop the trend and if you fight it then you’ll be left behind. The last decade and the future kind of reminds me of the end of Point Break with Swayze decides to surf the wave that’ll kill him – He knows he’s gonna die but if he misses this he’s going to regret if the rest of his life. That, and he’s running from Neo, but that’s a different story.

I think my term of technology is a little broad so let me just be obvious and say I’m talking about Social Interaction within technology and the websites it encompasses.  However, social networking and social interaction are starting to blend with all things technology and vice versa. Anything thing we have can be considered “networking” or “interactive” think about all the things you have that you can mark as your “favorite” or somehow share it with someone.

I’m here to point out 3 reasons why technology and this wave we’re riding with Point Break Swayze is great or maybe terrible in reasons you may not realize. But first I should mention that it wasn’t too long ago that I was the guy who wasn’t on facebook, twitter, or any other site that allowed me to communicate. The furthest I’d go is a blog page, and I liked my privacy. I didn’t think it was necessary, I’d prefer facial interaction rather than network interaction but that all changed for reasons I can get into at another time.

Here is what I’ve realized about what technology is doing and the atmosphere it creates:

It’s like high school:

Yes, like high school, maybe not everybody’s high school but most people’s. I grew up in a small town with 1000 kids in the school, we all knew each other’s business and we all talked about it in the bubble that it was. How did this happen? Well, it was a small community of people who liked to talk and share things. Sound familiar? Because to me the majority of Social Networking is about individuals who like to talk and share things. 10 years ago (side note: wow I have been out of high school for 10 years) anyway, 10 years ago I heard gossip about my best friend kissing some girl. Now I sign on twitter and I hear gossip of Boobie Gibson talking trash about LeBron James.

First off, I don’t care but that doesn’t stop me from knowing it. And that’s how things are now. We open the door for talking and “did you hear this” we willingly open ourselves up and recreate a time that once was – that time is high school. Some of us actually even share out high school pictures with each other and let others comment. Maybe those 4 years are the most defining?

It keeps us honest:

Just had a talk with my friend the other day about this. If you’re single on facebook and trying to score with different women – good luck. And if you’re single but dating someone and their information is “private”… good luck. The area of lying has shrunk, it’s just not happening.

I’m willing to bet it’s near impossible to carry on lies with the technology we have. The significant other is so tied into everything you do that how can you get around them? Side note: If you are trying to get around them… why are you in a relationship?

It’s our new companion:

Who knows you the best? Who knows everything you do - what you read, how long you read it, what you watch, what you search… The computer.

The thing sitting in front of you may know you better than you know you which is kind of sad but it’s the way it is. We may not realize this but on lonely nights aside from comfort food the computer is the go to. It knows everything about you. This may be something very scary or very appealing however you look at it. But soon, not only will the computer and it’s components be our trusty friend it will be US.

We’ll always have the old schoolers preaching about how bad technology is and how it’s ruining interaction and truthfully they may be accurate, but whether they’re right or not there isn’t much they can do. I think the key to all things technology (and all things really) is the balance – the ying and yang. Use everything in moderation and use it to your advantage, and if you don’t… enjoy watching everyone else.

Thoughts from a Dunk Contest: 2011

I had the pleasure of checking out the dunk contest last night (Thank you Corey) and we saw a guy dunk two basketballs, then “three” basketballs, and then man jump car which left me walking away with a few thoughts, and maybe ideas on how to go forth.

The Thoughts:

1 - Serge Ibaka: The man from Africa who was just as much glam as he was dunk used his first dunk attempt to launch from the free throw line. He did it, and it was a legit free throw line dunk. For whatever reason I think he garnered a 45, a 45!? He jumped free throw line! The thing with the free throw line is once Jordan cocked his legs back like he’s floating he changed the visuals of it. MJ flew, and everyone else is just jumping.

If you want the 50 from free throw, you need to figure out how to soar – not jump.

2 - The glam and the glitz: Too much of it. Please show me raw dunks. I think it’s cool to have a bunch of props but it’s turning into a Hollywood movie during summertime, just show me the academy awards and be better than everyone else.

3 - The many attempts: After Nate Robinson took 45 minutes to do 1 dunk a few years ago they changed the rule to allowing the dunkers just 2 minutes. Well, 2 minutes is too long. If you nail the dunk of the first try then it’s unexpected, spontaneous, and plain awesome. Allowing someone to try over and over lets the steam from the room.

I propose the new rule! If you miss your first 2 dunk attempts you are automatically deducted 1 point, the highest you can get is a 9.

4 - The score cards need to go lower than 8. Not sure if you realized it but the cards they hand out are 8 through 10. If you suck I want to give you a 3.

5 - The 3 ball dunk: NOT A 3 BALL DUNK. It’s funny because after JaVale McGee, from the Washington Wizards, dunked 2 balls on separate hoops and took 1:30 seconds I said “I want to see him dunk 3 balls.” Then sure enough he said he was dunking 3.

He successfully dunked 2 then John Wall bounced the 3^rd to him. He may call it a dunk - I call it goaltending assist from J Wall.

6 - Allowing fans to “vote”: No, stop it now. I don’t care how interactive you want it to be. This is stupid, maybe allow them to have input but leave this to the judges.

7 - Cee Lo: Wears very bright clothing.

8 - The newest Golden Child of LA: Blake Griffin. Dude is awesome, just awesome. When he made it to the final round he did a dunk that was pretty incredible. Toss of the back board, catch and stuff his forearm deep in the hoop a la’ Vince Carter 2001.

Then… he jumped the hood of a car with Baron Davis giving him the assist. Also, he brought in the Compton choir to sing an R Kelly song while he dunked. I hate to say this but I wanted to see him jump the entire car.

The car jump was spectacular don’t get me wrong but his first dunk he made was on the first attempt and no props, and that’s why it was almost more incredible. I will say this: In the final round Blake Griffin made me forget someone was even going head to head with him. He had it won 2 weeks ago.

All in all I want to see the supreme athletes do things with no assistance and no flash. Show me something I can’t think of or do on a 6 foot hoop. And although I want to see more superstars in the dunk contest (Bron) I think this was a great job to pump some life back into it.

I love All Star Weekend. 

A little diddy about age.

Dammit! It happened. I’ve always wondered how I’d know that I was aging. I’ve managed to ignore the typical old age stereotypes, hoping I was more Ben Button with Brad Pitt rather than Jack with Robin Williams. But, yesterday it happened.

I was driving and listening to LA’s oldie station, K-earth 101 with Shotgun Tom Kelly when he pumped me up with a full hour of commercial free music. Perfect I thought, trusty oldies I can always rely on you. He gave the traffic report… weather report… few lame jokes… and then…  thank God, it’s music time.

The music started, the first few seconds sounded awfully familiar and then I heard the words: “A little diddy about Jack and Diane”

Wait… Huh? Did I change the station? No, I didn’t. John Cougar Mellencamp was on the oldies station. Is this right? I saw this guy at Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin one year when I was a teenager. I’m still calling him by his 3 part name, isn’t he just John Mellencamp now?

Either way it happened, I must accept this and move forward. I told my girlfriend and she was casual about it, she went on to tell me she heard The New Kids On The Block on the same station. Bring it on Shotgun, oldies are no more, I welcome the nostalgic music and am fully prepared for this next chapter of my life. I’m not happy about it but I’m not sure I can change it. Time, you’ve done it again.