Jesus, Don't Cry...

Why it matters.

2008-09-11T20:45:00.004-05:00

I'm much more scared of Obama losing than I am of McCain winning. I like Sen. Obama. I mean I really like him. I see him talk and I think he means what he says. I see the look in his eye as he shakes people's hands. He's not giving them empty smiles. He is deliberately trying to make contact if only for a split second. Often he doesn't smile when shaking hands. Which to me shows sincerity and acknowledgement of the other person and not just a mass of potential voters. I think he cares about people. I honestly think he wants to do good. I also know that he wont be all I want him to be when he makes it to office. Even now he has become something larger than himself. He is no longer a man just trying to do right by the people he represents in congress. He is now the figurehead of the democratic party. He must now make compromises as such. But he will be the one to ultimately draw the line on where to stand fast and where to give. I've read only part of his book but I think his perspective is a far cry from the tunnel vision years of government service seems to induce. I think he can step outside his role and make decisions for the people.

I look at Sen. McCain and I see many similarities. I see that he's taken on the same role as figurehead of the republican party. Or rather I see that it's taken him on. I think the maverick has been very much broken, reigned in and is now being paraded around the county fair for everyone to admire. I've admired some of McCain's decisions in the past. He has shown true tenacity and the willingness to do what's right, whether I would agree with it or not. But now I feel he is caught up in this whirlwind of a campaign. He has also now something bigger than himself. I honestly believe that McCain wants to do what's right. (Again whether I agree with him or not) But when he opens his mouth it's no longer the maverick talking it's the Republican party talking. The Republican party is so scared of repeating the disaster that was the Bush administraion that they've reined McCain and the Straight Talk Express in so much he himself has been caught at a lost for words. Literally. I find it hard to believe that such a decorated war veteran that's been through what Sen. McCain's been through would voluntarily use it to gain public affection the way the McCain campaign has sought to. If Sen. McCain is victorious in the final election, I really hope he is able to throw off the shackles of his present campaign administrators and once again become the Maverick he claims he still is. But with recent let-downs like Palin, I doubt it.

On a final note. I'd like to reiterate why I appreciate Sen. Obama and want him to be my next president. Over 5 years ago, I saw something very bad happening. The country I love was acting like the bad guy. Like many citizens, I took to the streets to protest the completely unjustified invasion of Iraq. And standing there with my fellow citizens of many different colors, and backgrounds I felt that we might actually be doing something worthwhile. That somebody might be listening. But that idiot in the white house didn't bat an eye when we told him we knew what he was doing was not only wrong but insanely dangerous for the safety of our country. And they ALL let us down. The Republicans, the Democrats, Sen McCain and Sen Clinton. It was politics as usual and we sent our soldiers (my friends) to kill people that were forced to fight with knives in their backs. And although his voice was not nearly as loud as it is now. There was one political hopeful who was not afraid to say that this was wrong. One person who listened to the voice of the people he served and said that not everyone will mindlessly agree with this farce of a justification for a preemptive strike. One person who stood up for me.

2008-08-27T00:38:00.002-05:00

Searching for some semblance of direction on this odd Wednesday night. I'm 27 years old and I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm pretty sure I don't want to grow up. But there's something inside that tells me I should.

Here in Austin, it's been fun. But also polarizing. You begin to understand who it is that matters. The loose collections of memories you've become. There's been times in my life where I waged war against the distance and the incontinence of friends past with repeated missed calls and thinly veiled guilt-tripping voice messages. The champion of friendship to which time and/or space bear no obstacle worth mentioning. But I have lapsed before. And I fear the tides may turn once at last washing this brave skipper and skiff against the rocks.

Back on the Block

2008-06-09T23:12:00.002-05:00

So, I'm in the midst of a job change. I had a good job with AT&T supporting the smartphones, but I just couldn't handle the split weekend. Well that is to say I could handle it for a while but it seemed to take years to get 2 days of in a row due to their special scheduling needs.

Well I'm looking at new jobs and I do have some options. But they will all be subservient to the goal of getting me to the level of a working writer. That is making a decent income as a writer. My interests are so varied I can only imagine writing about the thousands of things I find interesting as satisfying.

To get a force writing plan going and make some cash doing it. I'm joining Forum Booster. They pay for forum posts. We shall see how it goes.

Relocate.

2008-06-06T01:56:00.002-05:00

So I'm in Austin now. Been here a few months. About to change jobs. More to come...

Weekender

2007-02-03T16:13:00.000-06:00

My 'net access is spotty these days so I'm posting from Steven's house today. But this is a big weekend:

Read-through of ¡Bike_Gang! is going nicely (as I type)
House has been bid on and I think we've found the new place.
Meeting with James tomorrow about Nerd Alert.
Chewbacca got arrested for head-butting a tour guide.

But isn't that just how wookies be?

Children of Clive

2007-01-21T19:40:00.000-06:00

I could sit here and type about how great Children of Men was but I'm too busy inhaling the book on the right. But mine's special because it's been run over by a forklift.

On a side note I have the closest thing to a mancrush my wiring will alow on Clive Owen. Not that his performance was particularly amazing in Children of Men. It was good, just not Closer, good.

Cast out your pods!

2007-01-19T22:39:00.000-06:00

Check out Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything. It was a lot better last time I listened to it maybe a year and a half ago. He used to always speak in this tortured broken voice that was both annoying and intriguing at the same time. Now he's all NPR and lost a good chunck of street cred. Still a decent podcast.

any other good one's out there?

Odd Couple

2007-01-16T19:31:00.000-06:00

So I spent a good part of this afternoon watching Matrix Reloaded followed by Punch-Drunk Love. Here's my assessment of the two:

The only redeeming quality of Matrix Reloaded and ultimately the entire series is Laurence Fishburne. Which is why the 3rd was so bad, little to no Fishburne.

Punch-Drunk Love is a modern day retelling of the popeye story. The none to subtle hinting of the song from the original motion picture (which is better than you remember), should not be overlooked. Barry Egan is both Popeye and Bluto(Brutus), at war with himself. Bluto manifests in his violent outbursts and the large-imposing blue suit. Popeye is of course a lonely sailor lost in a sea of anxiety caused by the Sea Hag (his sisters). Both terribly sexually frustrated. Then there's the Goons or the blond brothers. Then a million other things I could go over but I'll leave it up to you. Here's the theory Paul Thomas Anderson an admitted Altman devotee, saw Altman's Popeye and had to make his own version. This isn't the first time. Magnolia is Anderson's Short Cuts.

Take the above as seriously as you'd like.

One more thing..

2007-01-15T21:56:00.000-06:00

There also maybe a new comic artist on the horizon....stay tuned.

Nerd Alert, indeed.

2007-01-15T20:33:00.000-06:00

So Stephen hipped me to his friends' online video game shows. And I had the pleasure of meeting him. His name is Jim. His one-man videos are great. But I'd really like to help him turn them into something more. See his stuff here.

This may very well be the next item under the project column at right. Hopefully Jim and I will be able to sit down and talk sometimes this week.

As a little teaser I have a music collab. I'm trying to make happen. If it comes together it will blow your pants off. That's a guarantee.

2 weeks late

2007-01-14T11:08:00.000-06:00

So here's the deal, I trimmed up bit to wrestle last year. Well after all hell broke loost this past year, I stopped watching what I ate. My job become more desk-tied and I was drinking probably a bit more than I should have been. So now it's time to go back into action. Tom Venuto has a great ebook on natural fitness, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. And a website to support the plan. I used his plan previously to trim up and found it not necessarily easy but fulfilling. I feel good when I'm on it. Some cardio time, lifting and plenty of quality protein and carbs does a body good.

Rework1

2007-01-12T18:37:00.000-06:00

So the big plan for this year is to get ¡Bike_Gang! completed and to the masses. I have a small acting part in the live action/animated trilogy of shorts. But my main role is Executive Producer. The majority of my work will be happening pre and post production. In preproduction I'm working to make sure everything is done in a timely and professional manner. In post I'll be getting the heat on the streets and cheeks in the seats.

On November 11th, (my bday no doubt) following the largest comic book convention in town we threw a live art show together that was a huge success. We raised a grand for Heroes 4 Heroes. And got the word out about the film with some Wizard magazine coverage no less.

My hope is to have the final cut by the same time next year to debut either at the convention or at the ultra-hip after party.

Back Again

2007-01-11T20:00:00.000-06:00

I've redesigned my blog with the new, easier to work with blogger. Right now I'm in love with it. But things will undoubtedly change. I love the pic of my new favorite comic-book character Thanos in the upper-right corner. Wolverine used to be, but his character has deevolved horribly since I used to read comic books religiously as a teen. I hear the Wolverine movie will be out in 2008. It will probably suck. I should have somebody to write a Thanos script and get Darren Aronofsky to direct it. Using his new fangled Fountain effects.

BTW I have seen a particularly few amount of films this year but The Fountain and Scorsese's The Departed are where it's at for my money. Oh and Miami Vice was both better and truer to the original series than anyone wants to admit.

I've been preaching the gospel for almost 3 years now. So here is a big I told you so. The world finally agrees with me that the BEST show on television and quite possibly in history is The Wire.

Frankie R. Faison as Commisioner Burell
truly shines in season 4

Nice.

2006-07-07T06:13:00.000-05:00

I went very hard today, probably too hard. 8 mins @ 170. I couldn't go anymore. I was getting that burning sensation in the back of my throat. Not as long as I wanted to go but harder than I planned. So progress is made. Good.

I think I'm going to do the diabetes walk in september. I should have done something like this a long time ago. Thanks to Sarah R. for the idea.

I will attempt to keep my current schedule over the weekend. The weekend is what fucks me up. Except Sunday because I have a party to go to on Saturday night after I help Ryon move in. No drinking. It will be tough. Parties are so much more fun when drinking. Hopefully that fiesty little puerto rican will be there, ignoring her boyfriend and keeping me busy.

I had a talk with and old friend last night that mainly involved a lot of yelling and threats. How refreshing...

Champagne

2006-07-06T05:56:00.000-05:00

Last night I dreamed something cool but I dont remember it.

Resolution will not come. It must be found.

BTW 8 minutes hard today. Tomorrow 10 @ 160.

So Dork.

2006-07-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

Last night I dreamed of alien invasion and horrible curses put upon households by decrepit woman wandering into houses. I also dreamed I beat the shit out of some two-bit prowrestler in an afternoon MMA fight. It diminished the credibility of his match scheduled for after the sun went down.

I'm looking at the edge of what might be one of the hardest periods in my life. Familial obligations overwhelm me. Feelings of abandonement and hopelessness abound. I've lost all sense of accomplishment from wrestling by completing a copletely winless season. I'm out of shape. And so very poor (financially). As far as women go, all I seem to attract are poor, damaged souls in need of a launching pad.

But enough of the self-pity. I'm picking myself back up. I'm standing up. Oh and my friends are doing amazing things.

Post X-mas

2005-12-26T16:34:00.000-06:00

Viva King Kong! oh wait.. I guess that's a bit ill-fated.

So things have been a bit rough and tumble in the princedom these days. The patriarch's resources coming up a bit short has left me with a much larger burden than expected. But mostly it's all the non-material emotional bullshit that's the heaviest.

I got my ass handed to me at the wrestling tournament but I will be wrestling much more soon and will be apart of the inaugural UTA wrestling team. Now If I could just resist the urge to go and spend ridiculous amounts of money on getting me and my friends drunk, I might actually be able to repeat some prior success.

I've been regulated to dial-up internet service.

My first and last christmas present was a punch in the stomach from my best friend, in the front lawn of my parents house at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning.

I wish I was back in Corpus Christi...why'd I leave? oh that's right, I'm supposed to be trying to forget.

This is all a pretty bit bottom-heavy. I'm happy to be wrestling again. I'm happy to be the same super-cool dude I've always been.

I've got two thing in life, my family and my friends and I dont break either of those for nobody.

After years of waiting...

2005-11-14T11:45:00.000-06:00

Well it looks like it's going to happen after all. I'll be wrestling a gain this saturday.

It's kind of hard to believe after 6 years I'll be competing in the ring again. I've got to cut weight though.

It's already starting to put me in a strange but familiar state of mind. I'm not sure if it's because of the match coming up or the strenuous conditions I'm putting my body through. Only taking in about 1200 calories a day and I spend my b-day weekend working out about 3-5 hours a day. I woke up this morning at 5 to go run at the gym.

I wish I could explain the way I feel... but it makes sense. Since friday, I've started to feel more detached then I normally do. Less and less a person who inhabits a place with similar people running around.

I dont have any delusions of grandeur. I've been out of the game a long time and havent had partners my size to workout with. But I am somewhat in shape thanks to the past few months of hard work.

I've never had to cut weight before. But I think I can do it.

It still hasn't sunk in that I'll be wrestling in less than a week.

I'm thankful because I've got a lot of people behind me.

I also might be boxing in the Golden Gloves tournament in February. My dad was 2nd in the state at Golden Gloves, we'll see how I do. In the meantime I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Black-Eyed Journalism

2005-10-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

Two More articles in the Tarrant County College paper:

here:

http://www.tccd.edu/collegian/articles101905/wrestlershead.html

and here:

http://www.tccd.edu/collegian/articles101905/ptkspeaker.html

and it looks like this week I get the back cover page.

I attribute my journalism success to the unconventional interview techniques I employ. It's amazing, the information you'll get out of someone when you show up with your clothes completely soaked in sweat, a black eye, red-swollen knuckles that can barely grip a pen and a big, toothy grin.

You bet your balls it's Neil Diamond

2005-08-28T12:48:00.000-05:00

Why is Japanese Pro Wrestling so much cooler than US pro wrestling?

is it possible to be a lover without being a fighter?

2005-08-22T21:33:00.000-05:00

I had half convinced myself I had no business being a fighter and yet here I go again. I busted out my old gi (the thick one that makes you sweat alot) and tried out a new fight-school. I went back and forth throughout the day whether to go or not. Then when I got home from work and received some bad news, I knew that the only thing that would do me any good was some good old fashioned ass-whoopin.

That's how you know you love something if when you do it nothing else matters. The walls could be crashing in on you and you wouldn't notice. For 2 hours I get to dance in the rain.

Some rhymes I wrote in my head at work:

2005-08-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

I roll a C-R-V I dont tip in a lac
and I dont wear a chain 'cause Kermit's got my back.

That's the idea of it. The flow I had in my head earlier sounded a lot better but I cant remember it well. But I just thought it would be funny to be rappin with my plush Kermit the Frog (with velcro hands) hanging on my neck the way I used to walk around when I was a kid.

Reach out and touch faith.

2005-08-03T19:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my comrade Kozhev for the War of the Worlds toon link.

I've never been much of a dater. In fact a couple of years ago I proudly claimed "I dont date." With my former theory being that you just go around making friends and one-day poof one of those cool friends turns into your girlfriend. Well that happened..kinda. And now while not all hope is lost with this special friend. It will be awhile before we can be together again, if at all. But the problem is I hold my good friends very close to my heart and once this friend became more than she, enveloped me. I would and did do anything for her. And in the end that meant making sure she got out of town safely. It took a long time to heal from this seperation and I'm still healing. So I've been passive/aggresively dating.

..and it appears I'm running the gamut of dating. The "old friend let's go out and feel this dating thing out" date (only worked when I was drunk) - The "I just met you at a bar let's go out" date (not even when I was drunk) - And now coming soon The "hooked-up by a friend blind date" (phone conversation went well, we shall see) She's older than me by 3 years. This is the first older woman I've dated since high school. Well let's be honest only the 4th or 5th woman I've dated period, since high school. But still the last girl I was "with" was 3 years younger than me and that's probably a good reason why we had such a hard time.

Paintball, arrggh!! I love it! Come play with me sometime. It's my landlocked surfing. I like to play here: Outdoor Adventures on Saturday Nights from 7:00p.m. - 3:00a.m.

I got a cameraphone:

I got some great pics of my coworker: "Dirty White-Chocolate Jesus" playing flow-rack frogger 5 stories up in the sky

I'll be posting some pics soon.

War of the Cakes.

2005-07-07T19:08:00.000-05:00

So far so good on the training tip.

I saw War of the Worlds this ID4 (hah! get it?). Loved it. Go see it. Repeat: Go See It!! I'm a spielberg fan through and through. From fucking Jaws chomping through shit to the AI aliens, the whole bit. AI in all it's overblown grandeur nailed it as far as I'm concerned. Minority Report is a helluva lot better than you remember. I guarantee.

War of the Worlds is fucking gut-wrenching, nail-biting tension. I've never been so tense in a movie for so long. I was along for the ride and running for my life. All this to say, it needs to be seen in theaters. This is a theater movie if ever there was one. Go see it.

The day before I saw Layer Cake. It was great. Daniel Craig is great and apparently doing well for himself from rumors of the next bond to having a big role in the next spielberg movie. The guy's charming as hell and fun to watch. Personally, I'll take Matthew Vaughn's realistic smart characters over Guy Ritchie's quirky cartoon-like crooks, any day. Not to mention it's nice to be free of Ritchie's stereotypical black characters bugging this shit out of my conscience.

Look out for the apparently random beating in the middle of the movie. It was one of the more intense beatings I've seen in a while that churned my stomach. Fun british-crook movie all the way through the twisty-turvy ending. Oh and also the assassination scene: my gosh, so cool.

both feet off the merry-go-round

2005-07-02T16:10:00.000-05:00

Well if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go on an overnight drunk and in 4 and a half months I'm going to set out for the sport that took my knee and destroy it.

I like me.

2005-06-30T21:08:00.000-05:00

In an email to a friend:

"I really like books. A good meaty book goes a long way with me. Even short-stories are hard for me to get into. Sun Also Rises is my favorite, hands down. I read it about every-other year and fall in love with it every time. This is why I can understand the attraction of poetry without necessarily feeling it myself: I can't tell you why I like Sun Also Rises. I just do. It's not the most well-written. It's not the most compelling. There's just something about it, you know? That's what I appreciate about poetry it's allusions to and attempts at grasping for something that cant necessarily be put directly into words."

I like googling: friends.

2005-06-30T20:26:00.000-05:00

That's my friend Jon....athan lying to a bunch of people he doesnt know.

Man I love the Ninja Turtles...

2005-06-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo

The Y.

2005-06-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Haunted by dreams of the past. Tortured by realities of the future.

I had a good time catching up with my friend Sarah, saturday night. It'd been a long time. It's nice to know some things never change.

Man I'd sure like to hear that new Kings of Convenience CD. All I have is one of their remix albums. Am I a true fan?

I should be asleep by now. I go to work and sweat. I go to wrestling practice and sweat. I go to sleep and sweat. She's still cold as ice. And I'm so hot...

Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street never gets old.

My hands are starting to look like the way I imagined they'd look when I got old. Knuckles are scarred. Lines in my palm are deeper and more pronounced. I've got man hands. They used to be soft.

I've fought and won. I've loved and lost.

The following quote is from a Pitchfork Media review of the rerelease of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing:

"And he also knows how it feels to be in that bin, like all of us on the way to our own graves, where we'll be trapped with all the other goners-- hoping someone will see something a little different and special in us, that might pull us out of the pile." -Chris Dahlen, June 10, 2005

I wish I had a wrestling partner my size.

2005-06-17T06:04:00.000-05:00

saving lives..

2005-06-13T21:26:00.000-05:00

This news that Sigur Ros' is bypassing there Dallas stop on their tour like the do most of the time. Reminds me, when I saved my friend Derik's life. Well some might say.. There was this weird thing of people inexplicably passing out at Sigur Ros' concerts. I was hanging with a good size group of friends till it seemed like one by one they all slowly withdrew into their places throughout the crowd. I backed away to get a better view of the band and ran into my friend Derik and his girlfriend Mae. They eventually wandered a little bit ahead of me. I noticed Derik kind of swaying then Mae had this really scared look on her face. So I ran up there and caught Derik just as he was falling out. I carried him to the nearest exit and he regained consciousness. Derik claimed he was unusually sober that day only having had 2 beers much earlier in the afternoon. Then Mae went around telling everybody that I saved his life. That was strange, since I hadn't. Quite frankly I was more interested in finding out the details of Derik's passing out as I had read of this strange phenomena occuring at Sigur Ros' concerts, previously.

Sandbar.

2005-06-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

I miss the beach...more than you can imagine. I'm getting dark in my arms from time spent in the sun at work and play. But my torso is pale (somewhat). It's a weak shield for my burdened heart. I left something out there in the dunes and the neverending waves.

I worked out the ending of Tussle a little bit more. Took away the big stunt for a smaller one. Check it out. Lemme know what you think.

My membership at the UTA gym has expired, I'm considering working out at Metroflex. A wrestling buddy of mine works out there who is training to be a body builder. He wondered if I wanted to come and work out with him. My only hesitation is that this is a hardcore bodybuilding gym. There'll be plenty of meatheads and steroids. Ronnie Coleman one of the most successful bodybuilders in history works out there. But I'll probably be the strongest I've ever been if I do. I've yet to decide.

It seems like friday night was the night to get drunk. Many have reported of debauchery on high levels that night. I know I was drunker than I have been a long time.

Nostalgia surges.

...fresh from battle.

2005-05-30T20:44:00.000-05:00

Well due to weather and lack of willing participants, I didn't play paintball this weekend. So to still my battlelust I just finished launching a full-on assault on my mom by flinging left-over paintballs at her while she was cooking my dad's lunch. Then I cleaned up the floor so she wouldn't smack me.

If you're a Grand Prairie resident you can check out the GP section of the Dallas Morning News, sunday edition to see an article on my team and a team picture.

Friday night was our end of season pool-party, I was presented with a nice color team-picture signed by all the kids...and a wet crotch from the kids shooting me with water-guns repeatedly in my bathing suit area. I was not however wearing a bathing suit.

Here's a picture of me in the background, about to puke from the excitement:

Is it in yet?

2005-05-23T20:24:00.000-05:00

The state tournament was this past weekend and marked the end of the freestyle/greco wrestling season. So my tues & thurs evenings shall be freed up for more working out. And my saturdays for being lazy or something.

Things are looking up for next season. I found 3 more coaches for the program I may or may not head up in the fall. It came by a chance reunion with a guy who wrestled for my school after I graduated. He just happened to be looking to put together a team for mansfield along with two other former Martin wrestlers. So it looks like a possible total of 5-6 Martin Warrior wrestlers will be bringing wrestling to mansfield.

In other news I'll be using my newly reacquired weekend time to step production up on Tussle part 1.

I'm also getting back into my old hobby of paintball. I got together a few Black-Eyed Pea people to go and we had a blast. I would like to soon start a 3 or 5 man team. Anyone interested? please email me.

So my force-powers must have been working overtime yesterday as our attempt at the first showing was sold out. We came to a later showing where I ran into the former wrestler. The new Star Wars movie is great better than episodes 1&2. Not perfect but lovely and intriguing. I must say though Hitchicker's Guide to the Galaxy's planet factory was more awe-inspiring than anything the New Star War's movies had to offer visually.

David's beautiful nostalgic trip must be noted and viewed here.

So I just gotta start figuring out how to fit school in here somewhere and everything will be on the up and up.

I'm really excited about my reentry to the world of wrestling. The coach at South Grand Prarie High School has already said he want's me to work with his new heavyweight. I also might be working out with the UTD club team. Apparently they have some heavyweights. The knee may or may not continue to be an issue so we'll just have to wait and see.

For those readers out there this should mark the beginning of more frequent entries.

rumble

2005-05-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

No the blog's not dead... the movie's not dead..I'm just very bust for the next couple of weeks.

Mon Wed and Fri I work 11 hours workout for about one then sleep.

Tues and Thurs work 11 hours then wrestling practice for about 3 hours then sleep.

Most of Saturday is taken up by a tournament. Then a healthy night of drinking for old times sake and a bit of a hibernation on Sunday...

goodnight more later...

Spreading The Faith.

2005-04-13T20:11:00.000-05:00

"Sometimes in one's walk one will find oneself unable to keep the faith therefore one has no other choice than to spread it."

-Me

I started a new schedule at the warehouse I work at. M-F 6:00a.m.-5:00p.m. Being a wrestler has it's advantages as my boss's love for the sport is surpassed only by his size. So I got a cushy schedule but am expected to perform with all the hardwork that is expected of wrestlers. I was also expected to make an appearance at a wrestling tournament last saturday. As of today I can confidently say I have held up my end of the bargain. It started thursday after a rough day at work I showed up at South Grand Prarie High School the "other Warriors" that were in my region but not my Alma Mater (Arlington Martin), with expectation to merely help a few young kids get ready for the tourney. I get informed that they need people to help move mats for the tournaments. Wresling mats are big and heavy. I dont know how heavy but, they generally cost around 10,000 bucks, brand new to give you an idea of what kind of product this is. 4 hours later (mind you after my 11 hour workday), the mats are set up and I cant walk. FF: Next morning still cant walk without causing concern to anyone who sees me. Saturday sit down keep score of little kids throwing each other around (Tons of Fun, no sarcasm) for half the day, load mats another 4 hours.

...details. I run into my old teammate, Matt Harrison also a coach for the kids I'm working with; the Grizzlies. Matt Harrison was our 112 superstar my first and 2nd year of wrestling. I inherited his position as captain and fan favorite of the '98 Martin Warriors. We talked about how much we missed the sport and the fun we had together. The more mats we moved the more we talked about how we should have our own team. After soaking my shirt with sweat our old coach showed up. I pulled him aside and told him how I caught the bug. How my first kids demo going off, was like winning my first tournament all over again. He said he'd be back in the area for good in June and we'd all have a sit down.

So for now I will be spending my tuesday and thursday evenings with the Grizzlies. I will be making my transition from mere acolyte to disciple. The Grizzlies are merely a training ground probably until my mentor is back in town. Then I'll be following his directions but the plans are as of now with my boss to start a Mansfield program in a year or two that will eventually force wrestling into the high schools there.

So for now here are my colors:

Gorillaz strike back!

2005-03-25T14:56:00.000-06:00

So here's the new Gorillaz single. Albarn's the mainstay of course. But on the hip-hop tip, Dan and Del are gone for the very timely king of remix Danger Mouse on production and some guy named Trugoy droppin rhymes. Danger Mouse is good sounds better than his Gray album. Trugoy is also good but no Del his flow just dont compare, but I think he fits the character better.

In other hip-hop news just when you thought Kanye West was settled in a dual producer/rapper role he goes out and makes a fucking great video for Common's "The Corner."

2005-03-22T01:30:00.000-06:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this video:

Video code provided by MusicVideoCodes.com

Drool!

2005-03-12T17:08:00.000-06:00

There was a time I was spending a lot (too much) money on shoes. But I still reap the benefits. I'm putting together a little getup and out of my shoe-pile tumbles just the perfect pair. Most recently I rediscovered the last pair of shoes I bought for waiting tables. I bought them cheap at Ross. But then the other day I sported them with the only pair of Levi's I own and was like woah. It doesn't hurt that they're made by Reef who has the best surf gear ass- I mean ad campaign:

I've absolutely fallen in love with these shoes:

I always like to keep a good pair of wrestling shoes around. Asics makes the best. And I got turned on to the Onitsuka line of Asics by Raygun. I always wrestle in the most basic shoe because they always seem the best. The ones with pivot points and the like never work as well for me. I think because so much of wrestling is being out of position. There's a certain way to execute moves but if your wrestling a formidable opponent you have to be able to come from any angle. I must own these shoes soon.

2005-03-12T09:59:00.000-06:00

Yeah.

Who is Spike Jonze?

2005-03-11T07:03:00.000-06:00

Well it's good to know when Spike Jonze isn't making a really crappy Ludacris Video he's making a really cool Adidas tennis shoe commercial. Well I guess I shouldn't be too cynical those Adidas tennis shoes are pretty cool. I wouldn't mind a pair myself.

Two points to whoever tells me who's the musical artist featured my best guess is Hope Sandoval but I dont know.

If you look to your right ----->

2005-03-11T02:00:00.000-06:00

You shall see I've just posted my del.icio.us page. It's nothing special except basically a site where I post all the cool links I come across. It's cool for me because I've lost so many cool boomarks over the years and now I'll have universal place to access them. Cool for you so you can see all the cool shit I come across on my all too much time spent on the net. I first saw this over on Dan's blog. He always knows about all the cool shit first.

The moment you've all been waiting for.

2005-03-11T01:38:00.000-06:00

Honey Looks
Originally uploaded by hevyw8.

Honey Rose makes her Internet debut.

Invite a Friend.

2005-03-10T17:04:00.000-06:00

If anyone's interested in a Gmail account I've got some invitations available. Quite frankly I love it's ease of use and convienence.

Also I got an invitaion for a free month of Netflix. Normally they only offer like a two-week trial. So if you want the month comment or Gmail me.

More Change

2005-03-08T04:02:00.000-06:00

I'm excited I finally figured out how to add links to this blog template. I've been wanting to personalize this blog more for a while now.

If anyone know about some real editing what I'd really like to do is In my title banner put the image of Robocop where ED-209 shoots at him and it zooms in on Robocop's face and there's a hole in his helmet exposing his eye. I'd have that right underneath my title. That'd be awesome.

2005-03-08T02:49:00.000-06:00

"Offic"ial

Confession

2005-03-08T01:40:00.000-06:00

Well I've been kind of bull-headed about my most recent trials and tribulations. The truth is I've been pretty bummed about injuring my knee and of course the lingering feelings that are heartbreak. I been trying to just muscle through it. But things have suffered for it that shouldn't have. I've finally gotten back to work on the movie as of today ironically the day that I found out for sure that I will need surgery on my knee. I tore a ligament which I've never done before. So hopefully it will be as easy a recovery as the meniscus tear was.

But in better news I finished the script for the first part of Tussle. I'm very proud of what's come of it. What's coming together in my head is even more exciting.

Fuckin 'ell if the new Sin City trailer doesn't gimme a bigger rush than most any illegal narcotic I've ever consumed.

Change

2005-03-06T17:39:00.000-06:00

guess who just went gmail.

I've decide to ally myself even moreso with the giant that is google. I got nothing but love for this company as it hosts my blogs. Google is the place to be.

Hope you dont mind.

2005-02-23T07:33:00.000-06:00

thanks Beeow.
...but I dont agree with that in the workplace.

Ketchup

2005-02-21T08:05:00.000-06:00

So letsee lots happened other than the man pulling his own card.

About 2 weeks ago I busted up the once healthy right knee diving for a ball on the basketball court. I've yet to get an MRI. I'm pretty sure surgery will be necessary.

I felt really shitty about it. Knock you down depression was looming. But help came from where it should. I got my sore ass to go workout despite the pain a week later just to see if I could. After a little warm up the pain was gone but still no full range of motion. So I'm plugged into my onboard workout maching TV and watching this DOC on George Foreman and I watch him takedown Joe Frazier. I was in awe and invigorated at the same time. They kept showing it over and over and I was just overwhelmed by the sight of it I realized I was going ridiculously fast on the workout machine so I slowed down but keep a nice steady pace. I had to squeeze the handles so hard I was afraid they would break. Boxing's been on the brain because of that and because of my recent reviewing of Michael Mann's Ali.

Which leads to this:

I'm really tempted to buy it but I put the first disc in my Netflix queue to make sure it has staying power. But the more I remember how much my family and I enjoyed watching the more I realize I must have it NOW!

So yeah that's that and a cold kept me from jumping headlong into the oft-too delayed script work. But times-a-comin.

Good-night or Good Morning. Either way it's good.

Damn.

2005-02-21T07:41:00.000-06:00

Well Hunter's dead and along with him the many heroes he created. Himself a hero? Well hell, I got my own opinion about that and it's very personal and I wouldn't share it unless asked. I mourn the passing of the man Hunter S. Thompson. Not that his current living status affected me all that much even his most recent writings did little more than educate and entertain. But I always had this crazy idea that some day I'd pick up and go hang around the town and bar he frequented for a week or two and hope that he shows up. I would have gone over to him asked him if I could shake his hand and say "thanks." Then I would have driven my self-satisfied ass home. By hippies, sherriffs, and supreme princes alike HST will be missed.

Distractions.

2005-02-03T04:56:00.000-06:00

"I'm so tired of all this magic...I cant wait to get out of the World of Warcraft."

Yes I've been sucked into the online game. It's a good escape when this world doesn't offer up the same work/reward ratio. Either way it's been taking up a bit too much time. So movie watching and ridiculous amount of partying have been put aside and work will resume on the movie.

If you do happen to be a WOWer or prospective join server Draenor and look for BigShroom to join some friends and I.

Don't you love Insane Clown Posse? No..no I dont.

I cant keep up with the Netflix review so I'm just gonna do quick runs whenever I feel like it.

Ali
better the second time around and in a way not as good.

Straw Dogs and Dead Man
It's interesting I've seen these two movies after having written the script for Tussle. But in a awy these two movies are much like the movie I want to make. Dead Man even has the same score that I was looking for. It's very encouraging that while making a similar movie the same music comes to mind. Neil Young's Cortez the Killer is a big inspiration for the overall essence of the film and Dead Man's score is by Neil Young and very much in a similar style.

Meanwhile I failed in my vigil but fate had other ideas.

As part of my work on my movie I'll be working out with Aaron, I'm not so concerned with my look for the first part but I want to get gradually leaner in the second and third parts. I dont plan on any big slim-down, I want to keep the intimidating size. But I want the change to be noticeable in parts 2 and 3. Of course this is for overall health and appearance as well. I gained back all the weight and plus some that I had lost spending my summer on the beach and coaching wrestling. This is primarily due to all the excessive drinking I did dealing with things. I think coupled with my somewhat tamer lifestyle and small change in diet. Also having Aaron as a workout partner will help. He's also a certified personal trainer. We'll be trading knowledge, he'll help me in workingout and I will be teaching him what little knowledge I have of boxing and wrestling/jiu-jitsu.

My Dream Woman:

2005-01-19T17:43:00.000-06:00

Mysterious, Sexy and Trustworthy

Ha-ha Funny.

2005-01-17T17:53:00.000-06:00

I've been enjoying Peter Jackson's Video diary on his King Kong Prod. Blog. Most of them are fairly informative but this on in particular is hilarious.

Oh shit! Robocop lookout!

2005-01-14T17:13:00.000-06:00

it's
RoboShark!!!

How industrious of you.

2005-01-13T14:25:00.000-06:00

The warehouse I work at is located in the same building so we gotta wear ear plugs at all times. So all dialog sounds like some strange public television production dubbing.

I recently restarted my netflix subscription service so I'm gonna try to do some quickie reviews of the discs as they come in. So to catch up

Stray Dog *****
Akira Kurosawa crime noir is almost as cool as Kurosawa Samurai movies. The movie moves greatly from quirky comic routines to very gritty stirring scenes. Mifune's over-excitable angst is welcome as always. Kimura who happens to be my favorite of Kurosawa's regular stable plays the somewhat jaded veteran flawlessly. At the end you feel nearly as exhausted as the pro- and antogonist. No surprise, highly recommended.

Control Room ***
Yet another documentary to get you really pissed-off about the people running this country. It's about Al-Jazeera the Arab Sattelite News Channel. If you really want to feel disturbed and frustrated like none other I recommend checking this one out next to Outfoxed.

Garden State *****
I could go on about this one ..damn. This one hold a special place in my heart for reasons I wont go into. I waited a long time to see it. It didn't show in Corpus, where I was at when it came out. I had wanted to see it so bad as soon as I saw the trailer. Zach Braff was great in his many-roles, but at the same time it's pretty much exactly the movie a guy from his demographic (kinda like mine) would be expected to make. I didn't particularly like the way the Shins were introduced so blatantly. And yes "New Slang" very well may change your life but you shouldn't have to be told. Beautiful, moving and fun. What more can you ask for.

Black Hawk Down **
I like to keep an action flick in my queue for my parents to watch every now and then. I hadn't seen it and I had a tiniest shred of hope for Ridley Scott. Ultimately the performances outshined the content and direction. Although for the life of my I can't understand why they went with so many british actors with such thick accents. The film seems torn between trying to be a gritty portrayal of real events and a rock video. This one couldn't keep my attention.

Mr. Show, Season 1 ***
Like the first season of many great comedies this first season show merely mediocrity with tiny elements of brilliance shining through occasionally. The special features show the Mr. Show before it was on TV and shows the stars truly in their element. I look forward to the coming seasons. BTW if you do check this out dont bother with the commentaries. They're pretty much uninformative except for the explanation of the reason of why the shoot Mr. Show the way they do which is pretty damn brilliant. They shoot in front of a live audience in a restaraunt/bar so they can do away with the bullshit you have to go through shooting in a studio. They said they wanted the whole process to be fun.

So I'm anxiously awaiting Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" and the new anime DVD "Dead Leaves"

Dirty Keys

2005-01-11T14:49:00.000-06:00

My script for the 1st part of Tussle is almost done but a small-bout of depression and hard work as delayed it a couple of days. It shall be finished hopefully today or tomorrow.

I've got dirty fingernails. The first couple of days of my first industrial job have been interesting and tiring. I've learned a couple of things. Apparently, training in industrial jobs means "Shit work." I figured driving a forklift would'nt be all that physically taxing and from the looks of everyone zooming around on their forklifts it isn't but I've spent the past two 10-hour shifts breaking down punched skids and rebuilding skids. Yesterday Eddie and I, built 30 skids of 30 cases of product each of which weighed about 45 lbs each. I've probably consumed about 50,000 mgs of Naproxen Sodium in the past 48 hours, which reminds me... Also I've learned that this is the one job where you're actually discouraged to work too hard. We were almost done with all of the skids before lunch so we were told to slow our pace down about 3 times till we were moving about .5 mph. So far if I can walk away with only one hour of sweeping, it's a good day. Sweeping is the dreaded fall back task if a supervisor sees you and they dont have anything for you to do you'll be told to pick up a broom and start sweeping. They tell you just to start sweeping because the warehouse is fucking huge and there is always shit all over the place so it's like kicking sand on a forest fire.

One thing I take comfort in is the Office Space exchange where the main guy asks his neighbor "Does anyone ever say 'looks like somebody's got a case of the mondays' at your job?" and his neighbor responds puzzled "No, I believe somebody'd get their ass kicked for saying something like that."

The forklifts are kind of fun though it's kind of like driving a big mech on wheels around. Ooh I also learned how to pry upon wooden crates with a forklift. Apparently the talk of the town last night was that someone rammed a fork into a rack bending the 1/2 inch of solid steel into a ninety degree angle.

What's what

2005-01-06T16:13:00.000-06:00

So I had orientation for my first job yesterday. Drove and operated a forklift for the first time, that was scarier than I thought it would be. I start training sunday night.

I've decided to cut things off with my sometime long-distance love interest. Well in all fairness I guess she's the one that cut things off. She wont return my phone calls. She's done this before but that was back when she was battling her drug-problems. I'd wait a couple of weeks and then call her again and she'd be happy as hell to talk to me. I dont know what's caused it this time. And I dare not think on it too much. It's a hard fought battle everyday not to try and call but I need to do this...I need to start thinking of a future without her. If she calls me which is doubtful, I'll probably be right back where I started. This will be hard but I've taken measures to help soften the blow.

Two songs come to mind: Damien Rice's "Volcano" and The Shins "Gone for Good"

The script for Tussle is coming along nicely. I've given myself till the 10th to finish the first draft which will then be sent out to some peers.

I also sent in a response to a local casting call, the film sounds fun so we'll see.

Details are coming together rather quickly for the NY spring break trip.

Adventure 2

2005-01-04T23:56:00.001-06:00

I'm still pretty excited by the idea of my next adventure. I called my Man in the Big City today and started arrangements to not only get some recon from him but to plan our first scouting mission. Which will be relatively soon, Spring break to be more precise. He said room and board will be supplied. Excellent. I hope I can keep the excitement level up enough so that I'll be good about prepping for the adventure over such a long period. I'm not very good at that. So I'll have to make sure that there's plenty of adventurin in the pre-adventure, scout mission as well as scouting.

There are somethings I know I wont be able to prepare for until I get an eye on what I'm gonna be up against. I think the cold will be more of a factor than I'd like to admit. I've never experienced being all that cold for more than a week or two at a time. I'm excited about walking and subwaying all over the place. One thing I'll have to do is meet up with some surfers so they can get me out to the beach at least once or twice while I'm up there. There's gotta be some decent spots within a couple of hours of driving up there.

I'm excited to meet New Yorkers...come to think of it I've never really known any born 'n raised NYers very well, if at all. I'm also excited for them to meet me. I think I'm more of a Texan/Cowboy than I'd like to admit.

I really need to go to sleep like 3 hours ago. But I got my self all worked up again. I got orientation for my forklifting job tomorrow earlier than anything I've had to get up for in as long as I care to remember. I'm gonna have a real job again.

So I'll do the same thing I did last time: Write.

Adventure

2005-01-02T22:33:00.000-06:00

I've got to make a decision but I've made it before. And neither option has had permanence.

But the possibility of an adventure looms on the horizon with an odd companion. But somehow it makes sense. The kind of sense that leaving for Corpus Christi with a weeks notice made. Strangely enough I find myself in the same situation that I was then. But that decision was one of the better decisions I've made in the past couple of years. This adventure in question is a long way off a year.5, to be somewhat precise.

Would'nt that be great if I could spend the rest of my life just going off on these little adventures living in different places for just long enough to become fond of the place. But adventurin' no way to have a family, so they say. And sometime in my life I do want a family. I'd like it to be soon enough that my father is alive to be a grandfather. Thats something he's wanted for a long time and I've felt bad that he's had to wait as long as he has. But I wont rush things along just for his sake. It will be awhile before I'm ready for all that. I still got too much dreamin to do.

Anybody know the best way to the Big City?

New Year 2004

2005-01-02T03:59:00.000-06:00

I cant sleep. That is to say, I could sleep and did sleep but something gathered in my throat and made me wake up coughing. And the nightmares that make me want to sleep my awake life away take hold. Keeping me oddly enough awake.

I might pull an all-nighter. More than likely I'll pass out by 6:00 and wake up very tired for work in the morning. Looking even worse for wear than I did today.

I spent the better part of 2005 recovering from the end of 2004.

"And the Dead keep it."

2004-12-31T02:06:00.000-06:00

I really dont like to speak ill of the dead. Yes I agree the way Dime-Bag died was tragic and terrible. I would never wish a death like that a upon anyone even someone who was responsible for a band like Pantera. This is what sets me off, I'm a no news-media hound by any means, but when Dime-bag died I could'nt escape images of people mourning him. People coming up to me "sux about Dime-Bag." People lined up around the street to his house. I'm halfway convinced his death was responsible for me being late to work one day. Blogs everywhere mourning him.

But the news I have to actually go looking for is about the 60,000 dead. 60,000 dead almost just like that. Where are the fucking memorials for them and the mournings. We dont half-ways give a shit. I mean sure almost 500 million has been donated to aid. But I mean really is that a whole hell of a lot. I'm sure we've spent that much in a week on homeland security after the towers went down. We're spending 60 billion a month on that ridiculous ass-fuck of a war in Iraq.

Now some people would say that the Dime-Bag comparison isn't fair because that's a local thing he's from my hometown. Well that's my fucking problem. That's my fucking point. Since the 60,000 dead dont live within driving distance of an SUV's full tank a gas we dont care all that much. Sure we care, aww that's really sad. But for fuck's sake Priorities are so fucked here. If it happened to Americans it would be a national tragedy people would be putting some stupid sticker on their car or tying some flag to their tree. Instead a real global tragedy is treated with less emotion than a fuckin Super Bowl.

I've grown tired of politic discuission and the like but this is just one of those things that really shows what's important to the typical American lifestyle that says we take care of our own. What happend to caring about humanity and not nationality. fuck..

Kabbalah 1

2004-12-31T01:21:00.000-06:00

I've been casually studying some Kabbalah works, recently. My interest was piqued, like many things by a guest on Terry Gross' radioshow Fresh Air. Arthur Green has recently put out A Guide to the Zohar. Hear the interview.

I'm currently reading Daniel C. Matt's Essential Kabbalah. He was interviewed by Gross as well as he has been recently charged with translating the Zohar to english. Quite a daunting task to be sure that will take an estimated 15 years. Interesting enough is that Matt is not a himself a kabbalist. But is one of the most educated on Jewish Mysticism in general. The Zohar is the primary text of the kabbalists.

The scary thing about all this is, is that the new age community as gotten a hold of this stuff, so there is a lot of bullshit to sift through. I generally stick to authors who have strong ties to the Rabbinical communities.

I'm particularly intrigued by Kabbalah for its inclusion of the feminine side of the deity and of existence. It is pantheistic in nature which in someways I think I've agreed with for a while now. But it could also be said to be Transtheistic. My spirituality has been pretty much stagnant for the past couple years. I generally shift into autopilot, and let the decent set of morals and compassion that was result from my "walk" take over general thought. But seeing as how I'll have 12 hours at a time to keep my mind busy. I might decide to take over the wheel again and see if there's any life left in some of the higher gears.

2004-12-31T01:13:00.000-06:00

Holidaze are finally winding down. One last big hurrah tomorrow night, and I hope to enter a bit of a spartan like existence. I start the new job wednesday, so long as the piss test show up as clean as it should. I'll be driving a forklift around for 12 hours at a time. I'll work 4 days in a row then have 4 days off. I'll be working nights 5:30p to 5:30a. This change will be good, I think. I'll be spending my 4 day breaks picking up shifts as a waiter and kicking up production on the shorts. And the occasional traveling. It will be nice to have money again.

My pseudo-relationship is pseudo-killing me. It's like the best and worst kinda drug. Heaven when its available, hell when it's not. But this is just today. Eventually a conversation will come along and shoot my mood through the clouds. At least that's the way it's worked in the past.

New Year's will be bittersweet, another celebration with a hell of a lot of people I love. But not the one I love the most. The wait goes on..

The Arrival

2004-12-15T23:55:00.000-06:00

I'm proud to anounce I have a name and a blog: Tussle. My first video endeavor which I'm writing/directing and acting in. Watch Tussle come to life. Also We still got The Black-Eyed Productions blog going on.

Finished first season of Deadwoo d today, great show. I particularly enjoyed a scene in the last episode in which the incredibly vicious Al Swearingen, showed mercy by bringing death to a person, when it is in the act of killing that Swearingen mostly appears so heartless.

Incoming.

2004-12-14T20:02:00.000-06:00

I had the pleasure of seeing my friends' movie on the big screen last night at the Angelika. There were things I really liked and things I didn't which I hope shows at least some objectivity about it. I of course felt most attached to Yen's room, since that was the one set that I actually worked on and saw get shot. Deadroom will be showing at the Angelika again on the 27th of this month at 7:00 p.m. I'll be there.

One of the actors that was in the movie and that was at the screening played a small part in the upcoming Sin City movie where he gets his arm broken by Marv. I did by best to hide my geekafreak-out, when the actor was talking about the experience.

2004-12-10T23:34:00.000-06:00

I've taken in a couple of movies these past couple days: La Dolce Vita, The Maltese Falcon, Notorious, and last and least Blade 3. I'll probably get around to commenting on them (if I haven't already.) And if your familiar with the cutest dog in the world, Honey Rose it's worth your 6 dollars to go see B3.

On another note. It feels really nice to put time and thought into something for someone very special. And have them call with a somewhat weepy voice and tell you how perfect it is. It makes me feel like the damn Heavyweight Champion of The World. It makes me want to make more things for more people. It's time to get to work.

Adaptation

2004-12-10T13:45:00.000-06:00

I'm currently watching Huston's The Maltese Falcon. Bogart is good as Spade. The guy they got for Wilmur is uncannily like what I pictured in my head. Granted I heard the audiobook version of it. It's no doubt the reader was heavily influenced by the movie as much as the book. So far I'm pretty happy with the inclusions and omissions of the book. Recent book adapters should take note. Hell I'm not a Tolkien fanatic, but I still thought there were some huge things missing from Return of the King. I just don't know what was going on with that epilogue.

I've had this idea in the back of my head for a while now. I'd like to go find some old forgotten mystery novel and turn it into a movie. Maybe modernize it. Try my own hand at one of my biggest critiques of contemporary American cinema. I guess ROTK isn't necessarily American but you catch my drift.

I noticed David's mention of Oldboy over at his journal. So I checked out the trailer. It looks really cool. I'll have to figure out a way to check it out.

Gonna try to catch Blade: Trinity today. I don't expect much. Blade 2 was great, stylistically. Some of the best action in a while. I really liked it because it didn't rely to heavily on Asian fighting style which is really rare these days. Del Toro (the director) even managed to make a pro-wrestling style suplex look somewhat powerful. I don't expect I'll see so much in the third one but through the two mediocre-to-good movies I have become somewhat interested in the characters, one-dimensional as they are. I'm also not looking forward to the addition of the teen beat squad that apparently joins Blade on this adventure. But nonetheless I'm sure there are worst movies out there.

Jesus, Don't, Cry...: Now with (occasional) Torrent Links!

2004-12-09T13:23:00.000-06:00

My latest bit of BitTorrent excess has been the D/l of Fade to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass tribute to Metallica (torrent). Now I'm no big fan of Metallica, and I dont have any other bluegrass in my Itunes partyshuffle. But Metallica's hits sound oddly enough very at home in this bluegrass rendition. Hell even the lyrics that somewhat intrigued me as a barely post-pubescent boy, make for a somewhat mythological romp through the old backcountry in this setting. If only the crooner would release himself from Hetfield's particular delivery even the ridiculous "Fuel" could be listened to without the required laugh at the MachoManSavageness of it.

I'm also rediscovering The Silver Jews (torrent). You should too (torrent).

I just finished watching the second season of The Wire. It was a great story once again and I cant wait to catch up with the currently running 3rd season. The climax of both seasons are very anticlimatic. Which leaves you emotionally frustrated but that's the point. It seems to me like Simon kind of gives you one episode at the end of the season which does'nt so much wrap things up, but still acts like an epilogue. It's great when a movie or TV show is willing to go beyond the credits rolling. In a way nothing really changes. Things move on. Life goes on. Somethings better. Somethings worse. It's the ocean returning to its natural state after, Moby Dick and Ahab have sunk beneath its surface. It reminds me of Tim's monolouge towards the end of The Office which I wont go into in case anyone reading this, hasn't seen it. Which brought tears to my eyes.

New Blogs

2004-12-06T20:37:00.000-06:00

All development on the action trilogy will be soon available at the Black-Eyed Productions blog. I'm gonna try to work on some formatting for it tonight and hopefully it will be seeing some more action within the next couple of days. Certainly by the end of the week. Hopefully we will also be getting posts from my co-conspirators on the project Jason and Aaron.

Also I will be developing the Dirty Channel Radio blog into activity in the coming weeks. "What is Dirty Channel Radio?" you may well ask. Well I'll tell you. It is the UTA Radio show that I have been involved with the past year every wednesday night. We are currently on hiatus till next semester. This past semester was a bit of a struggle for all of us involved once again being Jason and Aaron. With my late arrival from my Beach sabattical and other high-stress events. But we ended on a high note. I was also struck by the idea to create the blog during the last show so we will have the opportunity to do live updates during the show including links to whatever content we will be talking about, since it is an Internet radio show after all.

I'm currently reading a lot of things. The two big ones right now are a new Bio on Cary Grant and the other is The Corner by David Simon and Edwards Burns (creators of The Wire).

Also a book on HTML. As I'm breaking down and finally learning a bit so I cant format these blogs a little better. I want to be able to add links and change the overall look. So we'll see.

On the personal side of things. Which BTW you will be seeing more of here since I'm moving two big creative endeavors to other blogs. Things are going well. I just need to hear back that I got this new job and I'll be set on my way to having a full go at this life thing and maybe with a bit of spoils from the fight hard fought.

2004-12-01T16:21:00.000-06:00

This whole BitTorrent thing is a whole lot bigger than I ever could have imagined. I found it odd that I'm only know finding out about it. Considering I was a beta-tester for the first consumer ISP in the DFW back in the early 90s. I've really fallen out of touch with the whole telecommunications world. Not that this is necessarily news to me. Just the fact that something this big has gone completely unnoticed. I mean I was still there with the first IMing software ICQ. My email dates back to years before microsoft acquired hotmail. But I guess come to think of it I was a pretty late bloomer on p2p in general. I only napstered for maybe a season before it came under mass-scrutiny. But I digress...

The whole idea of BitTorrent presents some very interesting opportunities. I think about developing free content and distro through BitTorrent. Like the rest of p2p sharing most content is the popular stuff. Major labels and indies. It has I think definitely bolstered indie sales but that still has its roots in word-of-mouth. I think it would be cool to have this whole network of somewhat distinguished tastes and present my content and receive feedback. I think that in a way this is already in place. I've recently registered at LokiTorrent where the forum not only contains links to torrents but discussions about the content. Wouldn't it be neat to have a venue for guys like me who put out a film and be able to get feedback from such a large pool of interested viewers. I guess that would be the initial problem would be getting members in to the pool who were willing to take the good with the bad. I'm sure there's such communities in various form for various media. But I think something that harnesses a force as poweful as BitTorrent could make for a very interesting community.

Then there's the whole sneaky idea of just dropping a torrent of my content on a certain community like it's something big and hoping to get some feedback from people expecting next month's big blockbuster like most movie torrents with lots of seeds are.

Also I decided Neil Young's Cortez the Killer will have a huge influence on the look and feel of the trilogy.

I will also be soon creating a Black-Eyed Productions blog so I can separate content of my own personal views and the more objective work of the film. Of which Aaron Martin and Jason Mueller will also be able to post to.

2004-11-30T09:25:00.000-06:00

Now thats what I'm talkin 'bout.

2004-11-28T17:08:00.000-06:00

I just finished watching Robocop for a second time in the past two weeks. It really is great. I had no idea they filmed a majority of it in Dallas till my friend told me a week ago. It was fun watching reunion tower bounce around the background.

The Plan

2004-11-27T14:11:00.000-06:00

So here's the basic plan for my as-of-yet unnamed Action trilogy. The main characters are also unnamed so that shall go by generic names. This will be a trilogy of shorts approximately 10-15 mins each. I will post character profiles either later today or tomorrow.

generic title - abbrev for summary (actor's name)
Good guy - GG (Aaron Martin)
Good guy's brother - Bro (Jason Mueller)
Drug Boss - Boss (Hermes Ovalle)
Drug Enforcer - Enf (Adan Gutierrez)
Shaman -Shm (Richard May)

Part 1

GG returns from Iraq (as a contractor) to an empty house. Bro was left in charge of GG's house while he was gone. GG has lost contact with Bro while in Iraq and hasn't communicated with him in 3 months. The best GG can put together from a series of phone calls is that Bro is involved with some dope dealing gang. GG contacts the gang on the false pretenses that he is there to purchase a large amount of dope. GG goes to where he is told he can make such a large transaction with the boss himself. The front is a used-furniture store. Security cameras will play a big role in conveying the story at the store. After a tense period between the Boss and GG about the false deal. Boss rather suspiciously is very helpful once he finds out GG's true motives for contacting him. Once GG leaves with the information on locating his brother. Boss calls in Enf. Boss tell the Enf talk to Shm and put 'el Ojo' on GG. A lot of strange interaction goes on beyond the simple curse. Shm gives enf a medallion of sorts. GG picks up Bro from a party house without incident. GG awakes the next morning to find his lock busted and Bro gone. GG goes to see Boss that night. Asks Boss about Bro. Boss tells him to leave and to forget about bro. GG refuses. Enf comes in a fight ensues that eventually sends Enf over a balcony and crashing through a table. GG much more quickly puts Boss in a compromised position and gets the location of his brother. GG gets Bro groggy, blindfolded and gagged in the closet GG seeing no other choice mortally wounds boss for fear of further retaliation. GG exits the furniture store. The final shot will be enf laying facedown in the ruins of the table his hand clutching the medallion given to him by Shm.

I've run out of time and will have to run through the less develop 2nd and 3rd parts later.

Tech & TV

2004-11-27T13:40:00.000-06:00

My newest technological obsession is the new p2p file-sharing Bit Torrent. Downloads are slower and it is very hard to get the less popular or older stuff. But I set some downloads before I go to sleep and wake up with 5 classic COMPLETE albums. Nice. I'm also currently d/ling the complete second season of "the best show on TV" The Wire. It'll probably take a week or two but that's the beauty of broadband. Also the second half of the first season of Deadwood is on its way. With no cable and no public television I still manage to get the serial entertainment I want to see and none of the bullshit I don't want to see. Apparently there's a way you can set up your own TiVo using Bit torrent to d/l the shows as they premier every week.

Speaking of TV there's a couple of really good shows on TV.

The Wire

Deadwood

Arrested Development

I'm sure there's more but this is all that's caught my fancy and comes to mind.

2004-11-27T11:41:00.000-06:00

I've been doing my homework for the past year. I been taking in a lot of the classics of American Cinema. Most recently I've discovered the Arlington Public Library video collection. It's chock-full of classic films.

My most recent "holy-shit" moment has come by way of a fight scene early on in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. One of the best fights in movie history. It's a great blend of realism and dramatics in a two on one brawl where Bogey and his moral sidekick only barely overcome their large opponent. There's one shot where Bogart is knocked against the bar and the camera follows him as he slumps down to the floor. I definately plan on stealing that. John Huston thoroughly impressed me with the whole film. Since I just finished "reading" (audiobook) The Maltese Falcon. I'll have to check out Huston's film version soon.

On the subject of classic films if anyone knows how to get a hold of a copy of John Sturges' Bad Day at Black Rock I'd really appreciate hearing from you. There's no DVD copy available as of yet. And all VHS copies are either used (which i dont trust) or new and very expensive. I've gone shopping to pawn shops sometimes just looking for a lasedisc player because I hear there's a great LD with commentary out there of it.

2004-11-26T18:09:00.000-06:00

One big reason I wanted to start blogging again was to help me get some ideas down on paper.

So here's one I had today:
While waiting for our shift to begin one of the girls I was working with started rolling her pants with a lint brush very vigorously. She was suffering from a nic-fit so I think that why she was doing it so hard and fast. But her pants and the lint roller made this really interesting combinations of noises. So I thought interesting to have this character who was really aroused by girls lintrolling their pants. I thought it was funny so I txtmessaged Aaron and he agreed.

Return

2004-11-25T23:35:00.000-06:00

I'm back. And with good reason too. I spent the past year going through my first major heartbreak. It hurt.. it hurt really bad at times. But I'm strong now. I'm weathered. Somewhat jaded but that comes with the territory. And is not always a bad thing. My life is in more of a mess now than I will ever care to make known. But it's ok the only way is up, maybe even a bit diagonal but still up. My way up. Slowly using both my arms and my legs.

College is on hold, until next fall at the very earliest.

Exciting Things, Possibilities

Making Action movies particularly an Action Trilogy I have in mind for a completely amateur cast & crew under the banner Black-Eyed Productions

U.S. Coast Guard I'm considering training to go into the Coast Guard

Teaching my friend Aaron how to box and wrestle (read: fight) and thus having a sparring partner

I'm looking for a new job. Today I pretty much peaked at my current job (waiting tables at the Black-Eyed Pea). Thanksgiving day is our busiest day. I had the biggest station and sold the most food. Yawn. Some warehouse work with full benefits is starting to sound very appealing.

More to come...

This past summer I spent teaching little kids how to wrestle at a summer day camp ran by my family. I did this in Corpus Christi where most of my family resides. The experience was wonderful. The kids were amazing they caught on so well. Our first demonstration was amazing. I'd put together little soundtracks for the demos. But the entrance music every times was the Kill Bill Vol. 1 trailer track. When the first demo was done I was ecstatic. I felt like I had one my first wrestling match all over again.

Another amazing experience I had in Corpus was, learning to surf. Surfing in my book ranks right up there with wrestling. It's an amazing thrill. It's hard to talk about surfing and not sound ridiculous so I wont go on to long.

ref. Step Into Liquid

I got a lot to put down but also a lot of time to do it in.