ok, ok

I've hid long enough. The original intent of this blog was to be anonymous. But most of the people who read it know who I am already. So, yeah.... this is Josiah talking. Hopefully this will also make it easier for people who are looking for me on blogger, and don't know the name of the site...... but know mine. This will not, however, change the content of the blog. I will still be writing fiction, poetry, reviews and such. If you want to know personal stuff, ask me, and I MAY tell you. Or just look me up on facebook. 

These next three weeks of school are going to be madness, so don't expect too much to be posted here. I'll write sooner than later hopefully.

Till then,

JST

Movie review marathon!

Brick  *****

I really can't give this one any less. This is an amazing noir film, and relatively clean. One supporting character gets shot and the protagonist gets a couple fists in the face; but Brandan has nothing on John McClane! There are about 4 profanities. It's the drug content that makes the rating... it's bought sold, smoked, abused, trafficked and killed for. I'd recommend this film to any mature 14 year old. Soooooo good! Deserves every star I give it!

Once  *****

The little indie musical that could. In addition to the wonderful music, it's the surprise ending that does it for me. Let's see that in a big budget Hollywood film, I think not! I won't give away anymore. The downside is that it takes place in Ireland..... where they use the f word as liberally as valley girls use "like." It gains an R rating for it. There is absolutely not negative content other then that. 13 and up, or whatever age you believe can handle that kind of language without trying to replicate it.

Memento ****

Very dark, very brutal, very raw and according to doctors: a very accurate portrayal of anterograde amnesia. This is Christopher Nolen's (The Dark Knight) second film, and what a film it is, intense violence, hard language and scary images keep this one away from five stars; but it is darn good! 16 and up.

Bolt ****1/2

Indiana Jones 3  ****

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium  ***

The Spiderwick Chronicles  ***1/2

The Grinch ****

Hancock (Unrated) ****

Full reviews coming later.... if I'm in the mood. :P

Scott

Coming Soon

Bolt and Memento reviews coming soon!!!!!!

Nick

Happy Thanksgiving to all! In celebration of the only uncommercialized holiday that America has left, I have decided to share something that I have been working on. (This will also explain the new photo at the top of the blog.) Although I have been spending much more time writing essays and such for school, I still love writing good fiction. Or, at least what I HOPE is good. Anyway, I have started a collection of short stories about Nick: Professional Four Year Old! The picture fits in in that the stories will be from an adult perspective, kind of like all those movies about babies who's thoughts you can hear, and they think that grown ups are so stupid and all. It will also have some elements of Calvin and Hobbs in it. All in all, this will be an attempt at much lighter fiction then I have written in the past. Nick will however, still deal with very serious topics.... abet from a more juvenile perspective. He's a little bit like what you would get if you put my grown up mind in a four year old's body who thinks that he can save the world. So I may be adding bits of Spiderman or Stupendous Man as I go on. Nick's sister has boy trouble, his parents fight, his neighbors don't understand him... but he's out to make the word a better place..... one nap at a time.

Nick:

Professional Four Year Old

 

 

“I doubt it.” Ferra looked down upon the sad, upturned beak of the dead sparrow.

            Nick whimpered, “But WHYYYYY?” He was practicing that wonderfully developed sense of logic that most four year olds share through constant inquisitiveness, and a vocabulary of one word.

            He persisted to ask his haggard sister again, assuming that she had not heard him the first time. “WHYYYYYY won’t he fly?”

“He’s dead Nick.” A curt response was all that Ferra could possibly muster at this point in the conversation. All sense of courtesy and any Sunday school lessons from that morning had been long forgotten the third time her little brother had inquired as to why dead things don’t fly. Apparently her reasoning skills were not quite water tight enough for Nick.

Whimpering soon became crying as Nick began to pick up rocks to throw at the bird lying upon the pavement.

“Get up bird! Get up!” Several rocks began their decent towards the immobile creature.

“STOP IT!” Ferra screamed. “Let the poor thing rest in peace!”

“It’s DEAD!” Nick screamed back, looking equal parts pitiful and cute. “It won’t care!”

Soon realizing that physical force was now the only mode of persuasion left to her, Ferra snatched the grubby little hand and jerked it backwards. The street resounded with noise.

“Ow, ow, OOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!”

Suddenly, a large sedan full of teenage boys appeared by their side, and slowed to a slug’s pace. Catcalls flew out of the windows and reverberated off Ferra’s ears. She knew how she looked, and she didn’t do anything to accentuate it. She didn’t hide it either, a fact that often made her parents fear for her life.

All Nick noticed at first was a sudden slack in his arm, for which he was very grateful. Something tipped his little toddler mind however. He looked around pensively. The bird, the concrete, a fence, his sister, a car, bad boys. Hmmmm… that was what he mommy had told him not to be. Perhaps it was time that he impart some of his hard-won knowledge with these poor souls, who had apparently not been so fortunate.

“Shut up, you….. you…. meanies!!!!!” Nick thought about what he had said for a bit. Had he been too forceful? But no, the car began to pick up speed again and head off in the direction whence it came, and the look on his sister’s face had relaxed enormously. Another job well done for Nick Greedy.

Let me know what ya'll think!

Scott

Stop, just stop!

Stop lyin'!!!!

Just stop it!

But I love you

And I can't stop

You wined me up

And spin me like a top

I know you're lyin'

And time is the only thing you're buyin'

But you're so good at keepin' me here

Cuz you keep tellin' me what I wanna hear

But I needa stop

You needa stop

We need air

So confused

Am I?

Are you?

Don't know what's true

and what's not

Keeps us spinning toward the blue

So stop lyin'

Cuz now we're flyin'

Toward the sun

We'll burn up

Before it's done

So stop lyin'!!!!!

Why I use the Canadian rating system

It's pretty simple really, it's because it suits my taste in movies. See, I rarely, if ever watch films with much sexual content in them, hence most of the negative content revolves around violence and bad language. I found out sometime ago... about when I was twelve that the American rating system was not the only one. In fact, just about every country has one. Some are even run by the local government, like Australia's. Anyway, each country's rating systems has its own biases, and this can be helpful if you want to get the most well rounded review of content without having to look at a detailed review site online. 

As one might guess, while the American rating system is more lenient towards violence, the Canadian system is extremely pacifistic, but tolerant of sexuality. Because of my movie choices, it helps for me to look at the Canadian rating system due to their extreme criticalness towards violent content. In fact, after looking through all my movies, I only own 4 which warrented the 18A Canadian rating: "Tropic Thunder," "Sweeney Todd," "Fight Club," and "Saving Private Ryan."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_picture_rating_system

According to violent content, here is a rough equivalency chart of American vs Canadian ratings:

American Canadian

G G

Mild PG (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) G

Hard PG  (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) PG

Mild PG-13 (Spiderman) PG

Hard PG-13 (Mission Impossible III) 14A

Mild R (The Matrix) 14A

Hard R (Sweeney Todd) 18A

So next time your not sure if an R rated movie is going to be super violent or not, check the Canadian rating. If it has an orange 18A emblazoned on the back, you might want to think twice.

Till Next time!

Scott

Upcoming releases

A question about the picture on the top of the page prompted this. Here are some of the upcoming media releases that I am very excited about:

-Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_(2008_film)

http://www.australiamovie.com/

-Star Trek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_2009

http://www.startrekmovie.com/

-"When the World Comes Down"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_The_World_Comes_Down

http://www.allamericanrejects.com/

I'll post reviews as they come out.

Scott

I've been tagged and I'm not tagging anyone else...

... but I'll still state 6 random facts about myself. These are some of the true or false questions I posted on Facebook the other day.... with the answers of course!

1) My best friend in high school, a fellow named Reed Webb and son of famous reporter Lee Webb from the 700 Club, looks EXACTLY like Tyson Ritter; the lead singer of All American Rejects. He denies it, but that doesn't make it any less true. What is stranger yet is that he is the one who introduced me to ALLR.

2) "Hot N Cold" is one of my all time favorite songs. Um....... don't ask. It's just a fun song, I have no other comments.

3) I am what is known as a claustraphilic, which is the exact opposite of being claustrophobic. I like disappearing under beds, into closets and caves and all sorts of dark, small, cozy places.

4) I am extremely OCD about locking doors. Some nights I'll even check the locks three times. I have no idea why I do this. Perhaps it is my obsession with keeping the ones I love same. (Something for another time.)

5) I have been a punk rocker since the fifth grade. I have always loved, loved, loved punk rock. I grew up on Dogwood, MxPx and old school Linkin Park. It's in my blood, it will not leave.

6) One of my all time favorite phrases in the English language (to the chagrin of many of my friends and relations) is "Bull S***!" And as such I believe that it should be used sparingly. There are so many ways to apply it, but it can lose its forcefulness if used in all of them. You won't hear it from me very often, but when you do, you had better listen up!

Hmmmm....  half of those were about music. I guess that's pretty descriptive.

Anyway, until next time,

Scott

I'm going to start listening to Christmas music...

... TRY AND STOP ME!!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Pseudonym

I think you're playing games

I think you're eluding fame

You're hiding

You're biding

Your time

I think that you wrote that

Don't lie

I know

How?

Guess

Look deep down inside

You knew it all along

You knew I'd see right through

But you hid anyway

You'd toyed with my head

Pretend I was dead

But you saw me

And I saw through

Look up

Face your fears

I won't hurt you

I'll keep you safe

I think we're falling

I think we're falling

Into something new

Into the deep wide blue

But you're hiding

You're biding

Your time

Review of "Quantum of Solace"

Three words: not quite filling. Don't get me wrong, it's not like it was a bad movie... just one of those films you go to with certain expectations and then leave with them significantly lowered. Here's the deal:

Quantum starts off exactly where Casino Royale left off; with Bond on the run and Mr. White in tow. The long and short of it is that he loses White and then goes around the world chasing him to get to his boss and then that guys boss and then that guys boss......... you get the picture. So the bulk of the film follows Bond killing lots of people and disobeying lots of M's orders with precious little humor to brake the tension. It looks like Marc Foster borrowed more from the Bourne and Mission Impossible films than from the Bond cannon for this outing.

Overall there is significantly less sex and bad language in Quantum than in other Bond films. We briefly see Bond kiss a girl's back in bed. Other than that there is some talk of characters sleeping with other characters, and then of course there are the opening Bond credits. But hey, that's Bond for you. As for cursing: I think I heard the s word once and damn and hell only a handful of times. Really restrained for an action flick if you ask me.

The violence, on the other hand, is anything but. The only thing that makes it less intense than the Dark Knight is that most of of violence in this film happens in day light. But that doesn't make it any less visceral. People are shot, thrown off buildings, brutally beaten, blown up, etc. One of the more disturbing scenes features the aftermath of a minor character who has apparently been tortured, stripped of clothing, killed and covered with crude oil..... all in order to get to Bond. Yeah, the baddies in this one are REALLY bad!

One of the better scenes features Bond spying on a few of the main bad guys who are all watching an opera. A rather large scale battle ensues.... all to the background music of the opera. Pretty cool.

So we begin to see the rise of a cold and calculated Bond. He is becoming the famous secret agent that we knew all along, but now we know WHY he is the way he is. Perhaps we will be a bit more sympathetic. But sadly, this film doesn't do NEARLY as good a job as the pervious Bond film did. Marc Foster and Daniel Craig just lack chemistry. There is no Johnny Depp/Tim Burton or Stephen Spielberg/Harrison Ford thing going on here...... something which a Bond film could desperately use. I'm big fans of both of them, but they just don't cut it here. 

If you are a follower of the actor, or the director, or just want a good action flick... by all means, watch Quantum of Solace. But I would warn Bond fans to stay away.... if you disliked Casino Royale, you'll hate this one. And if you DID like Casino Royale, you still might not like Quantum. It's kind of like an Amp energy drink, enjoyable and fun while it lasts, but leaves you wanting something more fulfilling, and a little bit depressed.

2 1/2 out of 5

Scott

007

My review of "Quantum of Solace" will be up late tonight. (Emphasis on late).

Some advice to all my college friends:

1-START YOUR PAPERS EARLY

2-WRITE THEM ON A SUBJECT YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT

3-START YOUR PAPERS EARLY

4-TALK TO YOUR TEACHERS (THEY ARE MORE UNDERSTANDING THAN YOU THINK)

5-START YOUR PAPERS EARLY

6-KEEP SHORT ACCOUNTS WITH YOUR ROOMMATES

7-START YOUR PAPERS EARLY

8-READ YOUR BIBLE

9-READ YOUR BIBLE

10-READ YOUR BIBLE

11- READ YOUR BIBLE

12- START YOUR PAPERS EARLY

Did you get all that??? Good......... now take it to heart

Sincerely,

Scott

Dying/Living

Hello

They’re all dying

We can’t bring them back

We’ll see them again

Just not yet

 

Rabbits and butterflies are all but gone

The sky ate them

The ground drank them

And now all is dead

All is wet

 

Words on a page

They ask for prayer

I accept

But I can’t

I have nothing to receive

It’s a lie

 

A haunted boy

A saddened girl

They meet and then

Twitterpation

More rabbits

More butterflies

 

Numbers are concrete

But mean nothing

Words are nothing

But mean everything

They make us live

They make us die

They make us

 

Four-star rating stabs me like a knife

Shapes can’t explain

They can’t define

How I feel

Who I am

 

Hello

We’re all living

I'll Try

This poem goes out to all those guys out there who know one, or perhaps many, girls with blue eyes and blue sweaters which, try as they might, they just cannot understand. I feel for you guys! Enjoy!

I can't know what's going on

Inside your head

As you lie in bed

But I'll try

I will try

I don't have a clue what makes you tick

Don't know what makes your day or makes you sick

All I see are the same blue eyes

The same blue sweater

Concentrating hard, crying inside

I wish I could make it better

And even if I can't

I'll try

I'll try

You shut me out with every move I make

You shut me down with every chance I take

That flame in your eye I'd die to see

You don't turn your head, don't look up

So I'll just wait for you to look at me

We're growing younger even as we grow up

I wish I could fix it all

To help so you'll stand tall

But even if I can't

I'll try

I'll try

New Stuff

Hmmmm... were to start. I passed my first term of college...... barely. But I made it this far, and all I can say is: "Praise God!"

Also, I have been watching lots more movies. I watched "The Godfather Part I" last weekend, and just finished watching "Hot Rod" with a bunch of my college buddies over in our basement. They are both movies that I personally loved, but would be hesitant to recommend them to everyone. "Godfather" while a classic, is quite intense and contains lots of graphic violence and some sexual content. "Hot Rod" is hysterically funny, in the vain of "Napoleon Dynamite," but much better written (in my opinion) and also quite a bit more crude. Bummer. But to be fair, I have not laughed so hard while watching a movie in a long time.

Tomorrow night is actually a scheduled movie night. (The Hot Rod thing just kinda happened). I'll be watching "Donnie Darko" and "V for Vendetta." V is a personal favorite of mine... Darko is another story. It appears to be a rather complicated mix of "Alice in Wonderland," "Harvey," "The Butterfly Effect," "Edward Scissorhands," and "The Sixth Sense." Yeah, it's gonna be creepy.

I'll keep you all posted,

Scott

It has come...

...and yet we shall persevere. We will not be put down. We were not made for government, but for the Lord God almighty. Government was made for us, and it has consumed us. It is on days as this day that we remember Guy Fawkes, the Apostle Paul, John the Savage and John the Baptist, and every rock band that we have ever heard. We will not let some petty thing, such as an election, defeat us; for we have already over come the world through Christ!

Happy 5th of November!

Scott

MxPx- "Before Everything and After"

OK, so this album is pretty much awesome. It's got everything you need: it's goofy, it's emotional, it's punk, it's pop. It's great if you're having a bad day, or a good one. It can make you depressed, or lift your spirits. (not the drink kind...... sorry.)

Buy it, rent it, borrow it..... but please don't steal it....... I'd have to kill you if you did that. I'm just kidding........ but seriously. Don't steal this, these guys deserve all the support that you can give 'em. 

Stand out tracks: "Play It Loud," "First Day of the Rest of Our Lives," "Everything Sucks When You're Gone," "Kings of Hollywood," and "Don't Walk Away."

So, want a song to listen to when you're driving late at night? Perhaps your girlfriend just dumped you? Or maybe you just want to rock out?? Look no further. MxPx will rock your sox off!!!!

5 out of 5

Scott

Hello again

Sorry that it's been a while. I've had an odd few weeks. I've written a lot, but just haven't posted it. Or perhaps I've just said a lot of stuff in my head that I WANTED to post but never did. Anyway... I'll keep putting stuff up here, no matter how short it may be.

Hello again my friends

I know it's been a while

Please indulge me now

As your minds I will beguile 

With a wave of my hand

I'll make your pain disappear

Strike up the band

You've nothing left to fear

I'll hold you through the rain

Don't mind me

I'll stave off all the pain

Don't mind me

I'm fine

Just fine

I listen

As you talk

I watch you

As we walk

And I think

And I dream

That maybe one day you will do the same for me

Listen to me as I struggle to be free

Watch me as I stumble to my feet

Would you do the same for me?

Hello again my friend

I'm fine

I'm just fine

The Fall

Laugh at me

It's OK

It's well deserved

From day to day

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

Don't you worry about my heart

It's OK

The attraction was tearing us apart

We'd die if we stayed that way

I can't feel!

I can't feel!

Watch as the rocks fall off the cliff

Hello?

What's this?

Another screw up

Hazzah!

Watch me as I find the meaning of "liff"

I'm paralyzed