Idle Minds...

Okay, so I get delayed waiting for my plane out of this godforsaken excuse for a country and have had to fill my time and mental energy somehow. I mean, if I DON'T, my mind wanders and usually ends up ideating overly dramatic conversations that usually end up making me really upset.

Bottom line: idle mind means I need to fill it with mindless movies. The other night, in order to stymie the flow of daydreams of my life falling apart upon my return home (hey, this place makes you think some DEPRESSING thoughts!) I decided to check out this "Twilight" thing all the ladies have been raving about.

Bad idea. I mean... REALLY bad idea.

And I'm a guy who likes vampires AND chick flicks. The Notebook made me cry. Anne Rice captivated my high school years, until I realized halfway through Tale of the Body Thief that it was actually just gay erotica, and I put it down, so as not to tarnish my memories of Interview/Lestat/QOTD (granted, I turned almost immediately to Michael Chabon, so it's not like I've been able to ESCAPE gay sex in my literature...)

But I digest. Point is, WTF? After the first five minutes of some decent acting between father and daughter that I appreciated, the movie devolved into a Dawson's-Cree-esque montage of actors pushing thirty trying to play seventeen-year-olds and attempting to convey an entire range of emotions though the use of the same two pained expressions.

But hey, now I know what TRUE LOVE is! Twenty minutes stranded in the woods talking weird is what women REALLY want!

If ONLY I had decided to do my hair and makeup like Robert Smith in high school, I too might have managed to bag the new girl. None of the guys I knew in high school who looked like they were from the Cure managed too well, but times have changed! Awful hair and male-lipstick are IN now!

Okay... it wasn't all bad. The one vampire sister with the short hair was cute. I'd TOTALLY do her. Also, the soundtrack was decent. Everything else was bad.

OKAY OKAY OKAY, it's NOT OVER.

I still couldn't sleep. So what did I do? I WATCHED SUNSHINE.

Yea, that's right, I watched The Core... In Space! Cillian Murphy plays Aaron Eckhard from the first iteration of this entirely predictable sci-fi cliche patchwork. So yes, overly attractive astronauts say overly attractive things while getting all sweaty and very attractively save the world by BOMBING THE SUN. Maybe I'm jaded because I was so unenthused by bombing the ACTUAL MOON two weeks ago, but c'mon... they put The Core, Even Horizon, and Armageddon in a Hollywood blender, hired the director of an old Linkin Park video and called it a movie.

Un-like x2.

Next: Spirited Away: a good movie.

Halfway and counting

I'm halfway through my time out here, slowly desiccating in the wind and the sun, but hopeful... or am I depressed? Funny how perspective can change everything.

Yesterday, the relief of saying "halfway done!" was fairly overwhelming. But today, staring down the back half of this trip felt really daunting. "Halfway still to go." But such is everything?

I've adopted what I hope is a Zen attitude about life here. Not a happy existence, but it needn't be sad. I have time with my thoughts - which means my memories, fantasies, and creativity. But it also means my fears. I can make plans, set goals, and reach epiphanies, if I focus. And I can let myself play out disasters if I'm not careful.

Or I can face my fears. I can face the thoughts that make me worry about the future, about my relationships, my friends, my family. I can find the solace that meditating on my existence allows me to. The nature of my own mind has become my focus.

The frustration of not being able to act on these thoughts has me channeling that energy into my fitness, in all its forms. Physical, mental, spiritual. And, amazingly, they are overlapping more than I'd expected.

Memory, it seems from a brilliant article in Discover, is more malleable than science ever before thought. Ponder that for a second and tell me that doesn't force you to contemplate your faith in existence. Our sentience is practically called into question, yet we live! We experience the universe! How joyous is life? Love? And what a blessing to BE here, experiencing, fleeting and ephemeral as existence may be. My very physical being may be but a phenomenon of observation. I owe it to myself to make the most of that, to whatever force allows me to be conscious.

I sometimes question my faith. I think most of us do at some point. I typically conclude that, while I'm unsure at this point in my life WHAT I believe in, I am certain I DO believe.

So what's the point of my writing this? Will anyone ever read it? Has some discovery been made? Is this simply a collection of bits that will, for a time "exist?" Or am I simply sacrificing my thoughts to the internet? Good question.

Good question indeed.

I'm hot cuz I'm deployed, you ain't cuz you not.

Okay two pronged post here with a final gesture at the original point of this blog.

First, yea, I'm deployed, which means that I'm leading a rather monastic existence right now. Regimented, spartan, but with a few luxuries. I could tell you where I am and what I'm doing, but I'm not Geraldo Rivera. It is hot, though.

Second, being here has given me some time to think on things, and realize that I kinda want ot shift the focus of this blog from literally watching film and TV (which I intend to continue commenting on) to seeing life around me. Not being able to PARTICIPATE at life back home in the States, I have a unique perspective being "outside the fishbowl" as it were. I realized that even how, the way I watch film is the way I'm watching life.

I accept what's coming, and I enjoy the surprises. I don't stress out wondering "who's that guy with the knife?" or "is that the bad guy? have we seen him before?" or "what's he doing?" but rather, I appreciate the mystery. I'd like to take the time to talk about some of my thoughts and perhaps observations. The social petri dish is simply too ripe to let it go to waste. And I think it'll help me understand everything.

Okay, and last but not least, a nod to film. I saw Taken, and loved it.

And let me just say, I apologize to all of the women in the world for being somewhat turned on. There, I said it. But, I mean, I think Dr. Kinsey... I mean Liam Neeson... would say that that's okay, as long as I kill at least a hundred bad guys to set things right.

Has it really been two months?

I TOLD you guys not to expect too much from me...

Still, I owe you, dear reader or two, an apology. Two months is a far cry from "infrequent" even. It's downright dreadful.

Seeing as I can't talk about what I DO so much these days (deployment fun), I can however talk about what's on my mind pertaining, not only to movies and TV, but also various and sundry aspects of the world.

For instance: I'm sorry Michael Jackson't dead, but please continue showing me news about the rest of the damn world and LET IT GO.

And this: Dear Iran, I so dare you to prove the world right and execute that dude. We're ready to publicly smear your already tarnished global image so fast shit-through-a-goose would blush.

And last: A lot of fucking famous people died since I left the US! Holy Crap! How will my life EVER BE THE SAME???

Of note: Not watching much new TV these days, but I am happily catching up on Battlestar Galactica, which I started last time I was out here. I'm also getting some decent movie watching in, including I Love You, Man and The Shawshank Redemption. Both awesome.

Oh, and Strange Brew. When I told the rest of the crew it was just Hamlet in a brewery in Canada, my literary criticism was met with "hey nerd, it's a movie about BEER!"

It makes me long for my wife's more polite questions about impending plot developments.

Star Trek

Approved. Definitely go see this movie, but definitely do NOT wear a red shirt! Old timey trekkers know what I mean by this :)

She couldn't go very long without asking "did that happen in the original series?" And, without offering any spoilers, All I could say was, "just relax. It'll all work itself out, I'm sure." Because I KNOW HOW TO BE PATIENT AND LET A MOVIE REVEAL THE ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS!

Also, have a little TNG parody break today. You've earned it.
Brokeback Enterprise

Wolverine

I didn't think it was that bad, but SHE did.  Granted, a movie can only include SO MANY times where the main character stands over a corpse and screams into the sky, but I suppose my tolerace for campiness in comic book movies is higher than most.

However, I was TOTALLY pissed that one would choose to completely butcher so many popular characters' origins in order to tell one origin story.  Though, if their dedication to continuity is anything like the last two X-Men films, I shouldn't fear that they can go ahead and accurately tell every other story regardless of the "facts" they've established.

Oh.  And I twitter now.  The blog may be dead... or maybe revived!  Who knows.

emart83

re: Watchmen

Lisa: "That's not how Lee Iacocca died!"

HERE WE GO!

Okay, so this time of year, I suppose most of my "watching" revolves around the NFL. Specifically, the STEELERS!

WOO!

I explained homefield advantage during the playoffs last night, and generally speaking, there wasn't a lot of "shutting up" necessary. My wife is my sports-watching partner. I cannot express how awesome this is. I love that my girl gets into sports - especially when they matter to me!

So it seems this blog has, as they do, strayed from its intent. Bite me. I like it this way! I'll keep the title, but maybe post increasingly arbitrary content. I love it.

And Go Steelers! Another Super Bowl!

Wish I were going...