First summer film....

You can always count on them arriving every summer (well almost every). It seems the reactions to them vary between love and hate. If you can appreciate the value of the film in regard to important factors (coolness, explosions, gunfire, falls from incredible heights), you can learn to overlook an unbelievably large amount of perceived hokey-ness.


On May 1st I went to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. IMO, It is probably the best in the X-men series. It was certainly better than Spider-Man 3, but not quite as good as Iron Man or The Dark Knight. The movie could have been a little longer, I am sure they could have found enough good plot to fill up another half hour or so. That said the film does not feel cut short; it flows very well from scene to scene. The CGI is excellent, but is not relied on to carry the film. The writing is good as the movie acheives its goal in giving us some of Wolverine's story. As far as keeping true to the comic books, it does an OK job, not being much worse than the majority of hero films in the last couple of years. There are obvious areas where a great deal of license has been taken. The writing is better than you would expect, perhaps due to an obvious amount of care taken to avoid *duh* moments. Casting was overall excellent, with Hugh Jackman, Leiv Schreiber and Lynn Collins obviously putting a good deal of heart and effort into their roles.
Overall= 7/10

Misc. Fun

Very Very cool video. Enjoy!

On Texas

I have spent the majority of my life here, so I thought I would devote a post to this state.

IF you believe the stories, Texas is the home of: The first U.S suspension bridge. The largest herd of whitetail deer. The meanest rattlesnakes. The capitol of live music. Highest 24 hour rainfall record (43 in). More counties than any other state. Home of cowboy's and THE Cowboys, so I include the Cowboy Guide to life.....

The Cowboy's Guide to Life

• Don't squat with your spurs on.
• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgments.
• Lettin' the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back in.
• If you are riding ahead of the herd, take a look back now and then to make sure it is still there.
• If you get to thinking that you are a person of some influence, try ordering someone else's dog around.
• Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
• There are two theories to arguing with a woman. Neither one works.
• If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is quit digging.
• Never slap a man who is chewing tobacco.
• It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
• Always drink upstream from the herd.
• When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.
• When throwing your weight around, be ready to have it thrown around by someone else.
• The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it back in your pocket.
• Never miss a good chance to shut up.
• There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation, the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
• My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me try to be in the first group - there's less competition there.

You have never known fanaticism until you see a group of Texans watching the superbowl. And the fanatacism over professional football is equalled by the fan-fare surrounding high school football. A school game can cause traffic jams. Whole communities not only know their school fight song, they know, sing along with, and can do the motions for ALL the school cheers. People will choose their children's school (high school mind you, or even junior high--we're not even talking about college here) by the quality of their football team. I've actually heard of someone moving to another town so that their son could have a better football coach.

Texas doesn't just have a football season--they have a football culture.

You can usually bet A Texan is a Southerner, AS such the following are a selection of things they would never say--

We don't keep firearms in this house.
Has anybody seen the sideburn trimmer?
You can't feed that to the dog.
I thought Graceland was tacky.
No kids in the back of the pick-up, it's not safe.
Wrasslin's fake.

Honey, did you mail that donation to Greenpeace?
We're vegetarians.
Do you think my hair is too big?
I'll have grapefruit instead of a bowl of gravy.
Honey, these bonsai trees need watering?
Give me the SMALL bag of pork rinds.

Deer heads detract from the decor.
Spitting is such a nasty habit.
I just couldn't find a thing at Wal-Mart today.
Trim the fat off that steak.
Cappuccino tastes better than espresso.
The tires on that truck are too big.

I'll have the arugula and radicchio salad.
I've got it all on a floppy disk.
Unsweetened tea tastes better.
Would you like your fish poached or broiled?
My fiancee, Paula Jo, is registered at Tiffany's.
Little Debbie snack cakes have too many fat grams.

Checkmate.
Does the salad bar have bean sprouts?
Hey, here's an episode of "Hee Haw" that we haven't seen.
I don't have a favorite college team.
I believe you cooked those green beans too long.
Elvis who?

Even IF you don't live here, if you have ever visited, you know your in Texas if--

You discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car . . .

You no longer associate bridges (or rivers) with water . . .

You can say 110 degrees without fainting . . .

You eat hot chili to cool your mouth off . . .

You can make sun tea instantly . . .

You learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron . . .

You notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance . . .

Hotter water comes from the cold water tap than the hot one . . .

It's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is moving on the streets . . .

You actually burn your hand opening the car door . . .

Sunscreen is sold year round, kept at the front of the checkout counter . . .

A formula less than 30 SPF is a joke and you only wear that to go to the corner store . . .

Hot air balloons can't go (at all) . . .

No one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car . . .

Your biggest bicycle wreck fear, "what if I get knocked out and lay on the pavement and cook to death"?

You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

Well that's all for now folks.....

Recent history.

I have been busy these last few months. Busy at schoolwork mostly. I have had time to enjoy myself as well, but as we all know that is supposed to come after the work bit. As far as I can figure out the equation of work to play is as follows, with x representing work and y as play-- x = y/5.5--
I have enjoyed the sports this year so far, for the most part. Steelers won Super Bowl, a year highlight for me, Tar heels take championship, I am happy 'bout that.
This year I have been practicing harder and harder at my guitars, and have been learniong a great deal about music in general.
I went to a concert the other day, it had Hawk Nelson as well as some other bands I like.

Hawk Nelson

Might be going to one tonight with Skillet, Needtobreathe and some others.

As far as video games go, I have been playing more racing games recently, including NFS titles, PGR 4. Fun stuff. Looking forward to a couple games including Splinter Cell Conviction and Army of Two : The 40th Day.

AS far as books go, recently most of my reading has been for school, including but not limited to these titles- Utopia, Don Quixote, Ben Hur, Westward Ho!. Some of it is VERY boring, but they all have bits of humor/irony that makes them slightly enjoyable.
I am looking forward to several movies this year, especially Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Sherlock Holmes, The Perfect Game, and others.
Well thats all for now, I hope to post again soon.

Long time......

I am back. Back to blogging. This blog will probably only be updated with any regularity in the summer months, so expect dead months later this year.
I have also realized that posting video game helps in too great of detail takes WAY too much time. This blog is now fairly purposeless as far as the help part of the name goes. But I suppose I can be an example or warning by my very existence.
Over the last few months I have been practicing heavily on the electric and acoustic guitar, so if any one has questions concerning these I will be happy to try and answer them or direct you to some great websites I frequent. I do not plan as of now to actually write instructional posts on guitar playing, yet I am sure it will come up as it is a important part of my life. If you are considering leaving comments, I encourage you to do so, not for any personal egoistical reason, but merely so I can visit your blog. It can be hard to find good blogs due to the overabundance of blogs on the net, so I will use your comment a a springboard.
As a final note, some people may take offense at the volume/style of music that my player, uh, plays. I suggest you either get used to it or pause the player if this is the case. Right now I have a slower and more peaceful song as the first on the playlist, as I know that few things are as annoying as clicking on a website and suddenly having music screaming at you. This said I hope you take the time to listen to at least some of the songs, as you may find you do not dislike them all.

Which are you?

There are many of us. We are called brains/noggins/minds... I am an Über-brain. That means I am all here, most of the time, and that my habitual thinking and conversing methods change according to the circumstance. Above your garden variety of craniums. There are five main types of brains, which are listed in order of randomness.

#1: Rototiller.
Identified by the odd noises that accompany hard thinking. Usually the odd noises are something along the grammar of "um" (or "uh"). The eyes tend to swivel around a bit. Usually comes out with an answer to a quizzitory question, it just takes 'em a while. The answer may or may not be correct, but the Roto' will be certain that it is, regardless of all facts presented to them otherwise.

#2: Diving board.
Tends to be a springoff-er. Grabs the idea you bring up and flies off with it, to heaven knows where. And you might not want to be there when they hit the water. Upon asking a D-board a factual inquiry, you will have the pleasure (or unpleasure) of seeing your original intent hoisted to such heights as to be not only un-identifiable, but wholly resembling an alien with a blown up floaty. You can be certain in advance if you see them thinking for a long time about nothing: they are coming up with ways to extend the thoughts of others to new records.

#3 : One way road.
Ever feel like if you talk to someone, that you always end up talking about the same topic as you have for the last 500 conversations?This is because either your brain or theirs is so locked on to something that your discourse is doomed to flow one way. Usually that way is down into the depths of dumbness, rather than the heavens of high-class. And NO.... You can never be a one way to high class.

#4: Über-brain.
Personified by its lack of adverse personifiableness. Regardless of the method, this sort tries to control the details of just about everything in a conversations (control is good, right?). They do well with Rotos' and One Ways, but are often bested by D-boards. They do well impromptu, but against long studied opinions (dogma) they tend to get a bit tetchy.

#5: Generic responders.
Possibly the worse. Every query, statement, thought, sentence, and diatribe, is replied to with the same couple of answers, regardless of the import of the situation. "Hm, you don't say?", "Huh?", "so?", " I dunno...", "I have a headache". You may notice that all of these either instantly put the focus back on you, or they simply dismiss you (or attempt to do so).

NOTE: very few individuals can determine their own brain type, but it is usually EXTREMELY easy to determine the type of some other person, particularly if you have talked to them for at least two minutes.
I delegate to your friends/family/co -workers to figure what type of brain you have...

P.S I leave to you the decision of whether this is humor or help.

It's simple, really.

Have you ever been in a situation in which you were on the receiving end of information, concerning how a certain thing or idea works? ( I know you have... So don't you dare think otherwise). How about on the giving end? I am sure that you are aware of the easy mistakes that can occur in the transferring of instructions or knowledge. Let us say that you have told somebody (whether a sibling, friend or anyone) to do something. And let us also pretend that you told them how to do it.

"Jerk on the cord till it starts, Fred".

You realize sometime (usually sooner than later) that something has gone horribly wrong. In this case "Fred" is holding the starting cord for your brand new boat engine. He is also looking at you, aghast that you would buy such a cheap model. You cant tell whether you ought to be upset at yourself for not being clear, or Fred for being so thick. You take it calmly at first.

"Oh no, Fred, since you dropped the paddles last trip this means we will have to find some way to get help. I never noticed that the lake shore looks so far away. Didn't I tell you that jerk implies stopping once you feel that t is not supposed to go further? No? I didn't? I guess I assumed that you weren't a Complete Idiot."

You then proceed to belabor your resident imbecile into pulp with snide, caustic, and pitiful remarks, over the next four hours that it takes you to paddle to shore, using a cooler lid.
There is of course, a point of view quite different. That of the confused Info-receiver. But that can wait for another time...

When to frag out...

Yes. Back to the subject of video games.

I think that there are few things so embarrassing in a combat game, as dieing with grenades in your inventory. Aside from being sniped or spawn camped you have no excuse for this travesty. You have all the wonderful orbs of death that you COULD have casted in the general direction of your foe (s). You would be surprised at how many chance kills you can get from this. I will include a video of some good ones at the end of this post.
Within the first 20 seconds of spawning into a zone were there/could be enemy presence within throwing range you should unleash your grenades immediately. There are exceptions to this of course. If you are not trying to reveal your situation then you should only throw when doing so does not give you away. If you happen to sea an enemy the FIRST thing you should do if he is NOT shooting at you is to start throwing. Sometimes even if they are gunning for you the best thing is to hope for a kill from the grave. The WORST mindset is that you are saving your explosives up for a good easy kill. You will not usually come across a good easy kill. Your grenades are there to make a hard opponent a little easier.
The purpose of a grenade is not only to blow people/vehicles up. They can be used to defend a position for an EXTREMELY short time. If someone sees your grenade fly into a room they will usually not enter the room until they see/hear it blow up. Thus for the duration of the time that they are waiting the position is being held by the grenade. you can use this to funnel and direct your opponents into going were you want them to go.

NOTE: There is some kinda annoying/fuzzy music playing in the background of this video. Turn down your speakers now if you have a reason to.

The art of forgetting....

You may think that forgetting things is easy; for some people it indeed is. I have known a few persons who seem to be able to do it on demand.

In my life (though not long yet) I have heard the phrase "I forgot" more times then most word combinations I can think of. While I will be the first to admit that it is a useful skill (and indeed art), I am still surprised by the audacity with which some wield this little phrase. You could be in the middle of telling someone how lazy they are for not doing something, and then BANG! They hit you with a "I Forgot" (or sometimes "I didn't remember")! It is simply not acceptable to actually admit either one of two things: one, that you chose to ignore the thing you claimed to have forgotten, or two, that you CHOSE to place such a low priority upon whatever thing it was, that you indeed forgot, but it was due to laziness/personal choice.
While I am certain that all of my readers have said they have forgotten something in the past, I wish to present here a few things that can help you convince someone that you really have forgotten something (only use these helps when you truly have forgotten and have said so).

1. Only smile when you say "IF" (I forgot), if you are a known forgetter, and everyone believes you, because it is true tat you have forgot, and they know this through experience. If you smile it may give some people cause to think that you are either lying, or just being obnoxious.

2. It may be that you have a very fast brain and that makes it possible for you to blast out an IF before the questioner has even finished speaking, but to me it just seems like a PLANNED forgetting when you bite the bit to say IF.

3. Be apologetic. I cannot stress this enough. A cocky, know it all, unrepentant forgetter is bound to have a disbelieving audience.

4. If you truly did forget then you aught to try and make recompense with the person. "Gee, I am so sorry Fred. I thought that you said to pick you up at west dock, not east. Wow, your really wet, I didn't know it was raining that hard. Was it really six hours? I will get you a new hat since that one is ruined..." I think that you get the point.

5. DO NOT GROVEL! you should not have a some kind of prepared speech! It once again makes you seem to have done the forgetting intentionally...

If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to post them!

What is literature?

There is a question that has puzzled man since the dawn of books. Maybe even longer. What is literature? After much study and many trials, I have come to a dual definition of the word literature.

The first (when compared to the second) is by far the easiest to understand and wield in your vocabulary. It is also the easiest to use without earning scorn from listeners. Definition one is: Literature, being any kind of printed material. The second is: Literature, being writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. I did warn you. How in the world can I use the word literature safely in a conversation, when I am referring to a book that I consider to be a beneficial. Well my objective in this post is to put forward what I consider to be a tool (not infallible) to determine whether a book classifies as literature (NOTE: the book does not necessarily have to pass all of the points) .

1. Worth. Does the book contain any apparent attributes, whether spoken or implied, that reflect importance in subjects that are of notice, such subjects exampled are (but not limited to): objects of permanent public interest, philosophies, worldviews, political opinions, and the psychology of various natures.

2. Quality. Is the writing content not only sufficient, but also above the norm? NOTE: quality is not the same as whether you ENJOYED the book. A lot of people like comic books, but is the writing exceedingly good in them? I would not think so.

3. Lasting. An oft overlooked requisite for true literature. Will the book be looked at as a good book twenty years from now? Or fifty? Or even in centuries? The topic/theme of the book should be one that lasts beyond the immediate decade after its printing.

4. Engaging. There many books that posses all of the above qualities, yet are not at all enjoyable to read, in any circumstance. The writing may be good, the subject of import, and the work it self stood the test of a number of years. However, a real piece literature must also be in some way captivating in nature. If the book does not in some way compel the reader to some emotion or thought process, has the author really accomplished anything? Literature should reach out to you, grasp your mind, and either entertain or en-knowledge you (If the later, then it must do so in an enjoyable way). If you have to pull your own teeth to get yourself to read the book, then either the book is NOT literature or you are are at fault, being an impatient judge of books (this is often the case with some of the older classics).

NOTE: There are many other things that people say effect whether or not a book should be classified as literature. This quick check list is NOT meant to be completely comprehensive, and should be treated as such.

I may edit this further at a future time....
Enjoy!