JohnA lifeBlog

I’m not a country music fan. But the latest from Dolly Parton barely counts as country, in my opinion. Mainly because the lyrics are powerful and poignant, something that seems to invalidate any opinion that this song qualifies as country music.Click here to listen to the song.

In particular, the lyric “God made me for a reason, and nothing is in vain / redemption comes in many shapes with many kinds of pain” really hit me for some reason. I think it is because I feel like each night is not something to enjoy, but rather a large block of time that needs to be dealt with so that I can get to the next day. That’s my pain. I hate nights & weekends because I have to deal with the thoughts that seem to consume me.

Yeah, I know. I’m not going to find a girlfriend when I’m writing stuff like this, but that’s par for the course. Women only want to “settle” for a guy like me after the they have had their fill of being bruised by the tall, dark, handsome guys with the 6-pack abs.

There is something cathartic about hearing a song that reminds me that we all have our demons to face and our pain to endure, and while it’s all different, none is better or worse than another.

The last couple of weeks have brought with them several unexpected events, the most shocking of which is the fact that my insanely-talented older brother Ethan updated his website! Be sure to check out his latest video creations, including his entry to (and official selection of) the StockStock Film Festival, Fearful.I’ve also heard from some of my oldest friends, which I need to reply to.

After I get my current project done, I think I am going to take a couple of weeks off for vacation. That would be such a nice change from the non-stop weekends. I think I’m going to go visit my family in Houston and New Orleans.

Oh well, back to Xanadu…

First, an apology. I apologize for not blogging for such a long time. I’ve been swamped with work, and during the last two weeks, any blog entry would have basically consisted of “I went to work today, came home, ate dinner, and went to bed.” While informative, it was far too predictable to actually write a blog about.Anyhoo, on with the show. Two of my best and super-coolest friends have already recommended that you see V for Vendetta, so I won’t try to convince you to see it. However, I will share my thoughts on the film.

Yesterday, I went to the 7:00pm show of the movie, which ended at around 9:25. I then went outside, bought a ticket to the 9:30pm show of the movie, got a refill on my Diet Pepsi, and watched the movie a second time. Why? Because I wanted to see what allegory I missed during the first viewing.

For those familiar with the writings of Philip K. Dick, you probably remember his comment that today’s science fiction writers will be looked upon in the future as the pre-cogs of the past.

When I look at such movies / writings as Minority Report, I am reminded that the only thing that separates us from complete tyranny is the idealist ability for free men to embrace ideas and hope.

The $1,000,000 question is: “Do I view this movie as an allegory for what our country is facing today?” In the strictest sense, no. But, definitely view it as a possible future our generation faces. As Americans, we have become far too complacent in our success. As a whole, we are ignorant of foreign affairs, and rely on one or two major television networks to provide us with the “news” of the world. As Americans, we are more concerned with who was voted off American Idol than we are about who won a major foreign election. At one point in the film, the party member responsible for propaganda makes the comment “Why wouldn’t they trust us? Our job is to report the news, not fabricate it. That’s the government’s job.”

I don’t claim to be intelligent enough to offer a film professor’s level of analysis, but I will say this. It is imperative that we, as citizens, choose to seek the truth through a variety of channels and means. If we don’t, then we’re all destined to a future we’ve seen in this week’s #1 movie.

Looking for a nice escape? Check out this movie. Looking for something deeper? Check out this movie more than once.

Oh, and as a P.S., I totally disagree with the people who have been posting on the IMDb forums. The reason you see key characters from the past in the climax has to do with what V specifically said about the power of ideas. If you want more info, send me an e-mail. I’m being deliberately vague because I don’t want to spoil the film for those who’ve not seen it.

Could you pass 8th grade math? I did, and as such am now qualified to teach at the University of Georgia.

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Heck, I did even better than Ms. ProKit herself…

How do you measure… a stage of one’s life?With apologies to Jonathan Larson, it’s time for something that has become a bit of an annual ritual.

3 years ago, Jonathan Tew & I loaded all of our possessions into a huge semi-trailer. We even loaded up Jonathan’s full sized Dodge truck. I was amazed that it actually fit.

How are we doing? I think we’re doing okay. Jonathan had his first child, we moved out of Jonathan’s spare room into a huge new office.

I moved from the depressing ghetto shack into a depressing hip Main Street loft.

My Toyta Corroloa was stolen, so it was replaced with another junker, a Ford Taurus.

I need a vaction more than ever… I’ve not had one since Christmas 2004.

What does the next 525.6k minutes hold? New businesses, new rants and psychoses, and most likely one or more new MacOS powered computers.

Happy 3rd anniversary, Jonathan. If you’re looking to buy me something leather, why don’t you check out these leather iPod cases…

Apparently including that flash video crashes NetNewsWire when you try to load the post. I submitted a bug report, but in the meantime, DON’T CLICK THAT POST!