Thought Abortions.

Really not in love with True Blood. I know a lot of people are really digging right now, and granted I've only watched the pilot, but I'm not thinking it's for me.

My main problem with it is that it seems to take itself way too seriously. I mean, really -- Your main character is named Sookie for Christ's sake, she can read minds, blabbers about vampire rights, and says ridiculous lines of dialogue like: "I've been waiting for this ever since they came out of the coffin two years ago!"

I think you can afford to lighten up just a bit.

Maybe this was just in the pilot, but the sexuality seems forced as well-- Like they felt there HAD to be tits, just because it's on HBO. I don't have much of a particular problem with this, but there's something almost contradictorily un-sexy about hitting the audience over the head with it.

I'll maybe give the rest of the first disc a look before I send it back to Netflix -- But whatever. I don't like it. If you're looking for a good drama with a supernatural-y twist, I'd recommend the BBC series Being Human hand over fist before True Blood. They wrapped up their fantastic six episode first series a couple of months ago, and have supposedly have been picked up for another eight. It also has charming British people instead of annoying Southern hicks. 

Also watching the cut scenes from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots on YouTube, because I don't have a Playstation 3, and I've been desperate to find out what happens before it inevitably gets spoiled for me. I don't really like video games anyway, so it's nice to just get told the story without having to deal with obnoxious boss battles and sneaking missions that I suck at. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it like this, still, but the compelling plot and pretty powerful voice performances drew me in damn quickly.

I can't wait for them to finally make movies out of these games, so Hideo Kojima can skull fuck everyone's heads.

Ick. I have to go outside and mow the lawn.

Sometimes I... don't understand Stop & Shop's logic.

A few weeks ago, I requested to have tonight off so that I could go to a friend's shindig. I don't usually work Saturday nights anyway, but, a little extra "Really can't work that night" never hurt anybody. Figured I'd be in the clear.

Well, I wasn't. Checked my schedule yesterday, and they put me on for tonight. I get it, we've got two people, including my boss, on vacation and they need as many hands on deck as they can get. Part of that whole being a "grown up" thing is accepting that you sometimes have to miss out on a social gathering or two.

Mom wakes me up this afternoon, shoving the phone in my face. It's a Stop & Shop manager.

"Brian! You requested tonight off, but someone went and scheduled you on anyway."

And, of course, now I'm thinking I'm getting the night off. In my head, I'm singing Barry, you're the fucking man. I respond with a polite:

"Yeah, that's alright. If you could fix it, you'd be my hero -- But, if you need me there, I understand."

"Well... if you don't come in, I've only got two guys on tonight. So, I really need you to come in."

...Wait. Let me get this straight.

Did you seriously just call and wake me up just to rub in my face that you trashed my plans for the evening?

Who does that?

You can kind of tell how I'm doing creatively by how clean my room is. I feel like I write better when my room is cleaned and semi-organized, so when I take the time to actually sort out the pile of filth that I live in, thoughts are typically a-flowin'. Room's the cleanest that it's been in weeks. (Though really, I just shoved all of the extra shit into my massive closet. Don't go in there. OH GOD DO NOT GO IN THERE.)

I've seen Terminator Salvation twice now, and will probably catch it a third when my little brother decides that he wants to see it. Honestly, it wasn't that bad, it just wasn't very good either. There are robots, things explode, and I guess that was all I was really expecting. I'm turning a blind eye to all of the fundamental issues, because really, this, Rise of the Machines, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles are all just bonus nerd wankage. The REAL Terminator story, for me at least, ended with Judgment Day.

No, you know what? Scratch that. The whole saga wrapped itself up perfectly in The Terminator.


I've always liked the first film quite a bit. It's a good, solid movie, with some cool characters and some great action -- But, like everyone else, I've always just shrugged it off as the entryway into the bigger, badder, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Watching this film again the other night, though, I realized that I might just be an idiot. The Terminator is so much more than that. I know there are a few people who are going to want to put me under nerd-arrest when I say this, but mythology-wise, it may have actually done the most for the franchise, back before it was even a franchise, and just a low-budget monster movie.

Take this movie off your shelf, and look at what James Cameron did so right, and McG did so, so wrong. Here were a couple of things that I noticed.

The Terminator is a love story.
I know how strange that sounds, but it's true. The primary angle of the story is boy-meets-girl. Sure, boy is trying to protect girl from a cyborg assassin from the future, so that she can give birth to the savior of mankind who will lead the calvary in the inevitable war against the machines -- but that's all almost subplot, at best. The movie holds up so well because it's about Kyle Reese and Sarah Connor meeting and falling in love. All the action comes second.

Terminator Salvation is about robots, explosions, and Christian Bale barking orders at varying volumes. It's hilariously ironic that the theme of the film is supposed to about how our humanity triumphs -- when the human characters are actually the least interesting element of the whole thing. The script is convoluted because it tries to bring the technical elements to the forefront, and they don't hold up to scrutiny and thought. We all love these movies because the characters are so great. Give us more of that, and we'll look past the other elements, and all of the set pieces will have that much more weight.

John Connor sucks.
That's right, I said it.
The prophesied hero of the human resistance is a shitty character.

Connor was at his absolute most bad-ass in the first movie. The one that he wasn't in. In The Terminator, he's mysterious. We only know what we envision for ourselves in our heads, what the adoring Kyle Reese tells us he is. None of the other films in the series show us "the man that brought us back from the brink", the one "man who taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal motherfuckers into junk" -- just a whiney fuck who we kind of want to choke.

The adult John Connor is best kept to the shadows. Someone we hear about from everyone, but see very little of for ourselves. Why? Because he'll never actually be as cool as the man that we've imagined, or the man that Kyle Reese so desperately looks up to. 

So who would be a better hero in his place in Terminator Salvation?

Kyle, obviously.

He's the true tragic figure of the saga, and is the one that I'm more interested in following in the events leading to 2029. Connor got his chance in T2 to show us how he began down the path of becoming a leader. In this new Terminator, I want to see more of how the scrawny teenage Reese becomes a hero. He's the interesting one, McG, and the one that we should be following -- not just used a plot device.


Spoiler Alert: We win.
It flat out says, at the very beginning of The Terminator, that the future war isn't the story. The events that take place in our present is the story. So, right from the get-go, Terminator Salvation gets a stake to the heart. We win the war against the machines before the first film even begins, there are no surprises to be had in that period.

SKYNET sends the first Terminator back in time as a last ditch effort to survive. By doing so, they ensure their own creation (the destroyed Terminator is recovered by Cyberdyne, and reverse engineered to eventually create SKYNET), as well as author their own demise (Kyle Reese, in pursuit of the Terminator, meets Sarah Connor and fathers John). Connor and SKYNET are nearly siblings. Both will grow, and one will eventually destroy the other.

The war simultaniously ends and begins, and everything comes full circle. All of the important elements of the story are shown to us by Cameron right then and there in the first film -- the only thing McG has to left to present to us is filler. Nothing left to see here, folks.

While the first sequel, Judgment Day, justifies it's existence by centering around trying to avert the coming war entirely, Rise of the Machines and Salvation simply don't. There's nothing about the future that The Terminator hasn't already went and told us.

 
Though Terminator Salvation has made me cynical about the future of the franchise, I still thought that, like Rise of the Machines, it was an entertaining little action spectacle. It was fleeting entertainment, but a fine way to pass the time all the same. The official story, for me, left when James Cameron did, so everything else by this point is just for fun. Any excuse to hear those heavy signature beats at a climactic sequence is fine by me.

But, you know what? The future is not set. Maybe there are still Terminator stories left out there that will blow me away. I guess we'll see. After all, there's no fate but what we make for ourselves.

Everyone catch the Sherlock Holmes trailer?

Looks fun, and a little more swashbuckle-y than I was expecting. Robert Downey Jr. is always great, so I'm excited to see what he does with it. I really don't like Guy Ritchie all that much, and found his last few films to be pretty self indulgent and pretencious-- but maybe a more mainstream blockbuster-y type of film will suit him? Maybe not throwing this on the "Excited For" list, but certainly on the "Curious About" one.

Saw Star Trek a couple of times, and thought it was a blast. After re-watching a few of the original films, I've decided that while it doesn't QUITE measure up to their level of quality, it opens the doors to a promising new series. The script had some holes, but the cast is wonderful and the action scenes are a lot of fun. A textbook summer popcorn movie.

Terminator Salvation hits Friday. Reviews are pretty bad so far, so I'm keeping my expectations modest. I've said from the beginning that I don't need genre bending sci-fi like T2, I just want Christian Bale fighting robots. I wouldn't mind a little extra something in there, but it's a McG film after all, and I know better than to expect much. Fox also shit-canned The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Too bad. I dug the first season, and heard that the last few episodes of the second got fairly interesting.

All caught up in Buffy: Season Eight and think it's doing wonderfully. There are elements of it that I like even better than the TV series. Kelley Armstrong's Angel: Aftermath is an abortion in comic book form, and is an absolute pain to read. And it's a shame, because Brian Lynch's Angel: After the Fall, the previous story arc, is probably one of the best stories to take place in the Buffyverse so far. Still, I have to keep plugging away at Armstrong's issues, because I want to know what's going on when Lynch and Urru return for the Spike spin-off series.

As far as real life goes, nothing too interesting is going on. Still hate my job, still not getting laid, still getting fat. Most of the crew is finally home, though, and I couldn't be happier. Can't tell you how much I've missed poker nights, bonfires, diner trips, and other random adventures. Looking forward to having a few months full of them.

Also:

( I just bought this t-shirt, and I'm kind of sort of in love with it. )

I guess I thought I would have more things to say, but I don't. Peace easy, kids.

Dude, Sarah Connor in T2, hands down. 

I completely lack any kind of motivation to do anything. I know I should be working on my script, or more importantly, a sample piece to send to Cinema Blend for that gig -- But I'm just so damn lazy. All I want to do is sleep, lately. And sleep I do. More often than not.

Yeah, I know. Just shut up and fucking do it.

I'm going to. Right now.

After one more episode of "Dollhouse".

In a nutshell, Wolverine wasn't that great, and Seventeen Again wasn't all that bad. What horrible backwards Bizzaro world is this?

Nothing else incredibly interesting going on lately. Working a lot, not really writing, and being particularly lazy. All in a days work, I suppose.

I'm changing layouts like a motherfucker, because I can never settle on one that I like. I'm sure most of you just read your "Friends" pages and don't notice anyway -- But, it bugs the shit out of me.

Expect it to be different every time you land on my page.

Alright kids, we have some serious thinking to do. You may have heard about this movie coming out called Star Trek. That guy from this show I've never heard of called Lost is behind it, and for some reason it's supposed to be some kind of big deal.

That, and I'm piss-my-pants excited for it. So excited even, I insist on going to see it IN STYLE! So, we have a few options.

OPTION A) Go dressed as Star Wars characters. Luke, Han, Leia, as many characters as we can attach to people. This will create a maximum "WTF?" at the theater. On the downside, however, it'll take money and effort, and will be hard to recruit people into joining. Apparently some of our friends have this whole... dignity thing holding them back. To each their own. 

OPTION B) Go dressed as evil versions of ourselves. ...Which just involves putting on fake goatees. The "WTF" gauge at the theater will read significantly lower, but is a joke directly related to the film which we shall be seeing. It will probably be easier to get people on board with this, but it'll make us all look like much larger Trekkies than I think any of us actually are.

OPTION C) No one wants to see your nerdy movie, fag. Go see it by yourself, and then kill yourself.

Either way, I'm having an original series marathon before the flick, and maybe do Wrath of Khan too. I expect someone to join me.

I hate it when I suddenly get the idea that the few hours of sleep that I got when I got home from work is going to be enough to get me through the night. Look, Brian, just because you're feeling okay around five thirty doesn't mean that you're going to be rip-roarin' and ready to go when you punch in at midnight.

Saw The Soloist with my Mom tonight. It was okay. Nothing particularly groundbreaking about it, but it was a solid hour and a half. I'd recommend it, but there's no reason to go running for the theater. The summer movie season "officially" starts Friday with Wolverine hitting theaters -- I'm more curious than excited for it. Expecting something along the lines of X3 -- Pretty to look at, but nothing much going on by way of substance. I'm not entirely against that.

Then soon after is Terminator and Star Trek.

I'm so fucking excited for both of those. I'm completely fine with the swine flu eating me from the inside out, as long as I get to see those two movies first. ...If it wanted to hold out until Where the Wild Thing Are as well, that'd be kind of cool too.

I have a little under and hour until I have to start heading to the store. I suppose I should go make myself something to eat.

So, here's what's going down.

The earth is warming to incredibly dangerous levels. Americans are disgustingly fat. People around the world are starving. Religious nut-cases want everyone who doesn't believe in their own rendition of a fairy tale dead. Anything and everything you do will probably give you cancer. The economy is in the shitter, and people are losing their jobs left and right. Depeche Mode released a new album this week.

Oh, and bring up any news website, and you'll discover that we're all going to die from this swine flu pandemic.

I haven't said anything about it, because I know it sounds kind of stupid, but I've been dealing with some waves of depression that come up almost out of nowhere, and last way longer than I'd like them to. When I'm at work, I have to blast my iPod to the point where my ears feel like they're going to explode to avoid being able to hear myself think. Stuck with my thoughts for company, I start getting viciously down on myself, and whatever self esteem I may have had vanishes. I convince myself that I'm ugly, that I'm too fat, I'm too stupid, everything I do is worthless, and there's nothing that will change that.

I shit myself sometimes at the thought of having to interact with people, because I'm sure that this is what they're all thinking of me.

Because of all this nonsense, I feel like I don't care about anything anymore. I have no motivation to go back to school. I have no desire to try and get any kind of respectable career. I never feel like writing anymore, because I immediately assume that it's not going to be any good.

So, whenever I find myself in one of these moods, my room gets progressively messier as I seclude myself for as long as possible, just watching DVD after DVD, avoiding anyone and everyone. This, of course, doesn't really help the matter, and I just find myself more and more miserable until I eventually get over it for a bit. 

Now I'm trying to figure out why all this is, which brings me the point of this whole disgustingly emo tirade.

The world sucks.

All the news coming in about everything is miserable.

And in turn, it's making me miserable.

I'm sick and tired of it all. I don't want to hear about how the polar ice caps are going to melt. I don't want to know that the hamburger I got from McDonalds is going to either give me a heart attack or lessen my chances even further of getting laid in the near future. I don't care about this fucking flu pandemic, and I'm just going to cover my ears and sing "La-La-La" until it all blows over.

Next time you see me, smile, and let's talk about something happy for crying out loud.

Then let's go buy a copy of Depeche Mode's new CD and throw it in a bonfire.

So, holy shit, Ralph Pepe was killed last night.

I think I've known the kid my entire life-- Since his family was heavily involved in Pop Warner Football when my brother Patrick and I played. We were never really eachother's cup of tea, but he was an alright enough and well meaning guy where it counted. No one deserves to go like that.

Hearts out to his family, obviously. They've always all been nice folks.

We passed some train tracks earlier this morning. I turn to Fred and say: "We should start a train company."

One after the other, slogans start pouring out of his mouth, faster than I can throw them on Twitter.

( The Miller | Giannelli Train Company )

...More will probably surface in the near future.

Turns out that I'm working tonight, as well as most of the week. It's a pain, but I'm glad to be getting the hours. I've been getting way-too-few hours lately, and while the paychecks actually aren't too shabby regardless -- I feel like such a waste when I'm home doing nothing.

I can't wait until everyone is home and we can party it up Wally World style.

...Which is to say that we all sit around and wish that we were somewhere else.

I need to get to sleep, but I'm really not tired. A shot of Nyquil will fix that up real quick.

( 75 Random Questions )


Spent the night at my grandparents house for my grandmother's birthday party. She's still in the "cute" stage of Alzheimer's, but I think it's pretty obvious that it's going to start getting bad sooner than later. Though, it really doesn't help that every time I see her she's into the gin like it's fucking water.

My uncle, dad, cousin, and I decided we would be manly and get a quick game of pool going. Problem is, all four of us suck terribly at pool. We were mostly just hitting the ball around the table, maybe occasionally sinking something by accident.

Generally uneventful, but overall, a good night.

Who wants to have a party and watch Twilight one night? Everything I've seen on it is amazingly terrible, so I want to get together with a bunch of funny people and give it the Mystery Science Theater treatment. Come on, SOMEONE wants to.

I have no idea if I'm working tomorrow night. I should probably check that out, huh?

My youngest brother, Sean, is that kid you always hated in high school. You know how it is, gets involved in shit he shouldn't be, and is generally sending my parents up-the-wall with his typical after school activities.

Thankfully, for my parents, though -- Sean is also an idiot, and has no idea how to be discreet about his going-ons. He borrows my mother's phone and doesn't erase his text messages, he uses the family computer and leaves his IMs on the screen. This typically keeps my mother a step ahead in whatever shenanigans Sean might be up to.

He left another on the screen today, talking to his new girlfriend. (This kid has a new one a week. He "LOVES THEM SO MUCHHHH". Every one.) My mom and I sit down and read through it, reading the particularly amusing passages out loud. We hit the end of the conversation, and the chick writes:

"I'm getting off."

My mom blinks, looks at me and says,

"....Does that mean what it used to mean?"

Once again, I don't really find myself with much to say. That's how it goes when you don't really do anything with yourself, though.

Picked up The Wrestler on Blu-Ray, which is an amazing film, if you haven't gotten around to peeking it out yet. I was pretty pissed that Rourke didn't win Best Actor at the Oscars, and re-watching it tonight with my father only reignited that. I also would have given it a Best Picture nod over The Reader, but I seem to be in the minority on that one.

Screw you all, I would have picked it over Slumdog Millionaire, too.

I was surprised that my father ended up really enjoying it, too. I figured he would bail once he realized it wasn't Rocky-esque, but he stuck with it, and afterwards told me that he was really glad that he watched it. We very rarely agree on movies, so it was nice to sit through one that we both dug a lot.

Anyway, Jules & Jim came in the mail today. I suppose I'll throw that in for now.

They sometimes call me Brian, Destroyer of Children.

I just got in from taking a quick walk around a few of some of the surrounding neighborhoods. I've been itching to get back into the habit, and now that the weather is finally graduating from blistering cold, I can. Along with being my only exposure to the outdoors, it gives me a good chance to listen to music that I desperately need to catch up on.

Down and around, though, there was this little kid, maybe five or so, sitting on the curb outside of his house. He was just chilling -- But, every time a car would roll by, he'd pick up a handful of dirt and fling it in it's direction. He'd turn to me and laugh, and I'd smile back.

Finally, as I was passing him, he picked up another clump of dirt, and laughed loudly as he pretended to hurl it at me.

As a joke, I gave my best "YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD" face, made a fist, and took a menacing step in his direction. Before I could smile and say "Kidding" -- The kid flipped his shit, screamed, cried, and ran back towards his house.

I'm not sure if I think that's awesome, or terrible.

Do I need this? Absolutely not in the least.

But damn, that sucker will look fantastic on my shelf.

( Bam. )

Some people, when they're depressed and self destructive, do things like take dangerous amounts narcotics, or cut themselves, and other things to that effect... I, on the other hand, go see movies like Dragonball Evolution. I've ranted about it on both Twitter and Facebook, so I won't repeat myself -- But Jesus Christ, it's as bad as you thought.

The shit has officially hit the fan. Where are you going to stand?