The Upside

"All I ask is one thing, and I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch, please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and you're kind, amazing things will happen." ~ Conan O'Brien

This is a new piece I will incorporate more often, since the last one about the recession seemed to do well. As I'm trying to be more optimistic these days, I will try to think up positives of things the majority of us seem to dislike. This will also serve as a good mental/spiritual exercise for me.

Although it's a bit late, I will begin with Winter/cold weather:

• No Bugs - No more mosquito bites! No cockroaches! I fucking hate cockroaches.
• Winter Fashion > Summer Fashion (my opinion) - This is probably more for us guys. Sure girls get to be sexy and half-naked in the Summer but what do guys get? Jeans, shorts, t-shirts, BORING! Give me cool jackets, scarfs, hoodies, and caps! You can never go wrong with dark and mysterious.
• Burn Fat - If you exercise out in this stuff, not only does it offer a greater challenge, but you also burn more calories. Your body uses more energy to keep warm so you don't die. I wouldn't recommend this unless you're in decent shape though.
• Winter Sports/Activities - Snowboarding, skiing, sledding, igloos, snowmen, ice fishing, ice skating, rabbit hunting, etc.
• Hot Food - I really dislike hot foods during the Summer (makes me feel icky). Bring on the soups, chilies, gumbos, etc! And aren't they sooo nice after coming in from the cold?
• Indoor Stuff - Build a model, solve a puzzle, read, blog and shit!

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure you can find other benefits of cold weather your damn self.

127 Hours: My Quick Review

This movie is about a guy who gets stuck in between a rock and a hard place out in the desert, literally. It stars James Franco (Spiderman, Pineapple Express) and was directed by Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting).

Pros + and Cons -
+ Incredible, beautiful shots - I live near the desert and never have I seen it in such a light (how sad).
+ Flawless acting... FATALITY
+ Nerving/edgy - feels like you're stuck with him, which you are if you started the movie.
- The ending is known if you heard the true story already.
+ Trapped guy. What's he going to do??? Suspense!
+ Original

Overall Score: 8.5 - I thought an entire movie about a stuck guy would suck, but it was way good. It's also very brutal, physically and psychologically. I couldn't help but feel for the guy and hope something good happened. Give this movie a try. You might be splendidly surprised like I was.

Quick Review of Hachi: A Dog's Tale

This movie is about a dog that waits for his master at the train station every day, more of a family film. It was on Hulu and I didn't have anything better to do.

Pros + and Cons -
+ Decent actors doing decent work
- "Added drama" - obviously, a movie about a dog probably isn't too exciting in itself so they have to add drama, like the mom character acting like a bitch
+ "Awww..." Everyone loves dogs.
- Kinda uneventful

Overall Score: 6.5 - It was alright and interesting enough, good movie to watch with the wife and kids, 'cause we all know women and children are the only people that can enjoy this sorta thing. You can watch it at Hulu.

100 (+2)

Well, I made it to 100 followers. Some of you I am just now meeting; the rest of you, I already know. I just want to say to all of you that your blogs are horrible and you should be ashamed of yourselves. Nah, just playing, thanks everyone! Your blogs are actually interesting. When I first started doing this, I thought it was going to be really boring, but you guys have some good content to share!

Anyhow, congratulations to Mr. Raw for being my 100th, you win absolutely nothing! Huzzah! But his blog is nice and deserves a mention. afewgoodsites.blogspot.com has some great links and I'm sure there's more to come. Go check it out, follow, and leave comments until you border on harassment.

Other than that, here's an epic cool song:

Oh, and so you guys know, I probably will get more into this stuff. It will be like a third job for me. So email me the tips, even the questionable ones!

A Quick Review of Face/Off

I just finished watching last night's Conan and was pleasantly reminded about this movie (Nicholas Cage Threat Level). This movie is about a cop, Sean Archer, and his extreme dislike of a criminal, Castor Troy (WOOO!). Archer has to take Troy's identity in order to gain information of a bomb's whereabouts, which goes terribly awry but produces one of the greatest stories ever told.

Pros + and Cons -
+ Nicholas Cage and John Travolta in the prime of their lives and careers! Hell yeah!
+ Fashionable and sexy gunplay and cinematics (directed by John Woo)
- Cheesiness? You bet your ass!
+ Action-packed!
- How many bullets does a pistol hold?!?! And other shoddy stunts...
+ Nice music. Ready for the Big Ride Bubba is one of my all time favorite movie songs.
- Weak dialogue

Overall Score: 8.5 - One of the best films ever made. If one of you watches this because of my review, then it's all worth it. I hope you enjoy this classic as much as I did.

Ip Man - My Quick Review

Ip Man is based loosely on Bruce Lee's Wing Chun instructor and his plight during the Japanese siege. I think it's based very loosely at that, unless I'm mistaken. It's coincidental that I quoted Bruce Lee in my last post, by the way. This movie just happened to pop up on Hulu, which was rad because I've been meaning to check it out. Anyhow...

Pros + and Cons -
- Mild cheesiness, not as silly as the good ol' 90's though, and all Kung Fu movies must have some level of cheesiness
- Haven't we heard the "Japanese being jerks and Chinese fighting back" story enough? (Fearless, Chinese Connection/Fists of Fury, Fist of Legend, etc.) I'm sure the Japanese would appreciate it if we moved on.
+ Ip Man's third fight is absolutely goddamn brutal and well-worth the rest of the movie
+ Well choreographed - quick and fast-paced
- Not as much philosophy as I'd hoped (what's Kung Fu without philosophy?)
- Not too much of a story or villain
+ Acting isn't too bad
+ Main character is pretty inspiring, despite his lack of dialogue

Overall Score: I must say that I reviewed this for what it is - a goddamn Kung Fu movie! Fuck yeah! All Kung Fu movies have cheesiness, some bad acting, etc. So, this score is relative to others of the genre - 7.5.
Definitely worth watching at least once; Kung Fu/Wing Chun fans will probably like to watch it twice or thrice.

The Subconscious Mind

"Recognizing the influence of my subconscious mind over my power of will, I shall take care to submit to it a clear and definite picture of my major purpose in life and all minor purposes leading to my major purpose, and I shall keep this picture constantly before my subconscious mind by repeating it daily." ~ Bruce Lee

The subconscious is a very powerful thing. A huuuge amount of our thinking is subconscious. Example:

You try to remember the name of an actor that played in that great movie. The name is on the tip of your tongue but you just can't seem to grasp it. After a while, you give up and carry on with your day. Later, while talking about something completely unrelated with a friend, the name suddenly flashes within your mind. What happened?

When you gave up trying to remember the name consciously, your mind was still subconsciously searching! Awesome!

That being said, I think we should all educate ourselves a little more of something that plays such a big role in our daily life. There are also ways to "direct" our subconscious, such as self-subliminal messaging. There are a few software programs out there that will flash messages on your monitor for you (to boost confidence or whatever)! Hey, in our short time here on this earth, I say use whatever you can to get what you want. Let me know if you find one that is compatible with Vista (screw you, I'll switch to Linux later!).

Other cool Bruce Lee quotes are here.